Endo Hisae
by V-nea
Summary: DROPPED - RE-WRITNG { Hisa was no ordinary girl as she had some unique abilities most didn't understand and feared. Being treated as a freak was part of her routine. However, what did that grim reaper mean when she said she will soon come back for her? }
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. (01.06.2016):** I _try_ to keep the updates on a monthly schedule, however I don't always succeed, so I apologize in advance for the long waiting every time. This story isn't dead (in case you're wondering). I'm still writing it along with other projects, since I'm attached to it.  
Eventual typos, mistakes etc. will be adjust slowly as I'll re-read the chapters, so please be patient with me. This being said, have a nice read C:

 _Hiei x OC_

Rated T for now. Might change to M due to adult situations and language.

 **Disclaimer:** Yu Yu Hakusho © Togashi Yoshihiro / OCs © V-nea / no profit, for-fun fanfiction

* * *

 **Chapter 1 – Death sentence?**

"Hisa-nee! Hisa-nee! What about this?" The little spirit asked while pointing at an image on a book.

"Ah, that's a triceratops. An herbivore dinosaur that lived about 68 million years ago. Its name in Greek literally means 'three-horned face'" The young girl answered the spirit. There was a brief silence as the kid took in the image and the wind blew softly around him, his hair remaining still under the breeze.

"Looks a lot like a rhino." He stated matter-of-factly.

"I think it's more like the rhino looks like this guy." She said with a small giggle taking a bite of her melon bread.

 _Ding Dong Dang~_

"The bell! Hisa-nee lunch break is over!" The kid spoke up looking at her half-eaten bread.

"It's fine. I'll just skip." Hisa answered calmly with a shrug of her shoulders while taking another bite.

"You can't do that!"

"There's no time for afternoon classes, Shu-chan. We have to find your place. And you already forced me to go to morning classes. That's enough school for a day." The girl complained. Shun looked at her for a moment with his eyes widen in disbelief.

"And I'm supposed to be the kid here." He sighed while lightly shaking his head from side to side in a resigned manner to the girl's antics.

"Let's go!" She stood up while eating the last piece of bread and taking the book from the rooftop's floor. Shun sighed again. "Ah, damn! We have to go take my bag." She added while walking through the hallway.

With a deep sigh, Hisa slid the door to her classroom open and the view of the small desks and the white walls greeted her. She strode to her desk, retrieved her bag and shoved in the image-book under the judgmental glances of her classmates.

"You're gonna get scolded." Shun said in a small voice, as if the class could hear him if he spoke any louder, thing that was impossible.

"I'm always getting scolded anyway." She responded normally, making the boy frown to the truth of that sentence.

"Hey, Endo is talking to herself again."

"Yeah, she really is all fucked up."

"She has a pretty face, but she's a creep."

"That's why she has no friends."

"Ah! But I think she had one when we were first years. You know that cute girl form class one."

"Really?"

"Yep, but she ditched her, too". A loud laughter filled the classroom. The comments flowed by as if she wasn't there, but she knew better than that. They could care less if she was hurt or not by their words. She actually was aware of the fact that it was done on purpose.

She sighed. _I'm starting to get tired of their shit._ She then exited the classroom not caring about her classmates or their snickering. She learned not to care, as it didn't actually do her any good and learned how much of a waste of time was to try change the mind of narrow-minded people.

Shun looked at her worried. He was already used to this kind of atmosphere at school. He got used to it during the last week he spent with her. He understood well why Hisa didn't like school. Still, he didn't like to see her skipping. He wanted to help her somehow, but as the situation was at the moment, there was nothing he could do. He was a ghost, with no memories of his life as a living person to boot. No one could see him. No one except Hisa, who was a psychic. She couldn't sense very well spirit or demon energy, but she could see them perfectly. She even had a fine amount of spiritual energy and could use it a bit. She could transform her energy into threads that could attach to objects or persons. For Shun, she was like Spiderman, a superhero. He liked Hisa a lot. She was kind and caring and when she learned about his situation, she offered to help him without hesitation.

Shun was a six years boy. He was very mature for his age. One day he woke up as a ghost. He couldn't remember how he died or who he was. The sense of loss and the loneliness picking at his young mid as people walked by through him and didn't even notice him. He wondered for days before meeting Hisa. With time, he remembered his given name and age, but nothing more. No one came for him. He thought that dead people were supposed to go somewhere after they die. Heaven or hell. However, he was stuck there with no memories. Alone. Hisa thought that for the time being they should find out what actually happened to him. How he died. Maybe that way he could remember something. Maybe with his memories he could move on and ascend or whatever spirits were supposed to do after death. Hisa was quite blunt about the matter. Shun didn't dislike it. He was aware that maybe he lost his memories because maybe he didn't want to have any. He knew that remembering could hurt. But he wanted to remember. No matter what.

"Endo!" Hisa froze as she heard her name being called by an all too familiar and annoying voice.

"Crap! Yamamoto."

"Where do you think you are going? School isn't over yet! Go back to your classroom". She was almost out of the building and thought she was safe, when the teacher stopped her. She glanced behind her to see the principal yelling and stomping towards her looking determined to drag her in class by the ear if it was necessary. She cursed under her breath wincing as if her ear could already feel the pain. He always tried to make her stop skipping or stop fighting, since she got into fights quite often. _Not my fault that demons possess people and come looking for trouble. Or that delinquents always try to hit on me._ She always thought when the teacher would scold her for hours to no end in his office, always babbling about her being a girl and that she had to think more about her future, saying how she was disappointing her family with her behavior. If he only knew the truth.

"Sorry sensei. But I had enough school for today." She said waving at him. "Besides, I have some important business to attend to." She added running away and waving her hand at him, before Yamamoto could get a grip of her.

"Wait! Endo!" She heard Yamamoto yell behind her, but she was quite far already.

"That teacher really cares about you."

"I know. That's why I didn't drop out yet."

"I see." Shun mused. "What are you looking at?" He asked seeing how absorbed she was by her cellphone.

"This." She held the phone up for him. Shun looked at the newspaper article she was showing him.

"I can't read it." He stated blankly. Well, of course, there were too many kanji he couldn't read.

"It's about a kid your age who died about ten days ago from cancer. There's no name here, but-"

"He died more or less when I did." The kid finished her sentence.

"Right. You don't remember anything about an illness or the like, do you?"

"No."

"For now it's our best lead. I say we go to this hospital and see what else we can find out."

"Right." Hisa glanced at Shin. He was wearing a serious and determined expression. _It's really hard to believe he's just a kid. He's way more mature than I am._ She smiled to herself making their way t the hospital.

\- \ -

Slurping sounds cut through the soft murmurs of the restaurant room. Droplets of soup shining with the sunlight peeking through the windows, as they were absorbed with the noodles. Glances were exchanged expectantly between the occupants of the table in a far corner, slightly secluded from the rest of the customers so their conversation would remain as private as possible, all wondering the same question.

"So why are we here anyway?" Kuwabara asked eating some ramen.

"Koenma didn't say anything to you, Yusuke?" Kurama asked the ex-Spirit Detective who was wearing an annoyed frown for not knowing why he was summoned so suddenly.

"Nope. He just said Botan would deliver the details. It's probably some new mission." He sighed. He was currently on break. He and the two men were sitting at a table in Keiko's family restaurant, where he was currently working. "That toddler just likes to have me deal with all his crap. Even if I'm not a Spirit Detective anymore." He leaned back in his chair popping his right foot on his left knee and draping an arm on the seatback.

"You shouldn't say something like that about Koenma-sama." An acute voice scolded him. A blue haired girl crossed her arms behind him in a scolding expression. "After all he was the one to guarantee for your permanence in the Ningenkai."

"I was a resident of this world to begin with." Yusuke retorted looking at her and crossing his arms.

"Hello Botan." Kurama greeted smiling at her.

"Hello Kurama." She smiled back. "Kuwa-chan." She waved her hand in the ginger's direction, who offered a big smile in return.

"Long time no see!"

"So what's up anyway?" Yusuke asked.

"We have to discuss this in a more private space." Botan answered looking around her. It wasn't particularly crowded, but there was still too much people to talk about the matter there.

"Ok. Let's go upstairs." The ex-detective suggested standing up from his chair. The others followed him suit as he walked towards the front counter and then guided them upstairs. "I'm going to have a little chat with my friends upstairs." He announced when he passed Keiko's mother. She nodded with a gentle smile and went to get some orders at a table.

"Where's Keiko-chan?" Botan asked.

"Cram school." Yusuke replied curtly. They were in Yusuke and Keiko's room. Botan took out a videotape and they all sat down in front of the TV. The girl hesitated for a moment wearing a worried expression, as she held the tape inches away from the video player, unsure if to plug it in or not .

"What's wrong?" Kuwabara asked curiously as she glanced around and then outside the window.

"Hiei was supposed to come, too".

"What?!" The orange-head shouted. "For real?" He blinked a few times in incredulity and Botan nodded with a serious expression.

"Koenma-sama said he would take part in this, too."

"As if!" Kuwabara scoffed folding his arms across his board chest and rolling his eyes. "It's been almost year since he last showed his face around here."

"Actually he visits me from time to time." Kurama said warily.

"Yeah, me too." Yusuke added more casually, making Kawabara's jaw drop to the floor. "Looks like you were the only one left out." He smirked in a mock tone watching as his friend frowned and humped in offence.

"Maybe I should call him with this." The reaper took out a pink whistle pondering for a moment if to use it or not. The men looked at the little object and sweat dropped remembering what kind of object was and how it worked, the Medium Whistle. Botan was about to blow into it and they covered their ears preparing for the painful seconds they were about to experience; Kuwabara only mimicking their actions as he never experienced the effects of the device, but wasn't eager to either.

"Don't you dare use that blasted thing." A voice and a hand on her wrist stopped the ferry girl, a crimson glare pinning her in place. They all blinked at Hiei, who was shifting his glare between the whistle and Botan.

"Hiei!" Yusuke got up to greet him. He gave him a pat on the back smiling widely. "You actually showed up".

"Hn. Whatever, let's just get over with this." He leaned against the wall ad crossed his arms nodding at Kurama's wave. He just purposely ignored Kuwabara, who got angry for not being acknowledged. Even though years passed, the two would simply not get along.

After the usual introduction to Koenma Studios, they were all watching the video. Koenma appeared on the screen sitting in his usual chair in his office, a serious expression on his baby face, his pacifier held in the middle of his mouth with a firm grip of his teeth.

 **Hello everyone. I gathered you all today for an important mission. I don't have much time so I'll jump right into the details. This is Endo Hisae.** He announced as a photo appeared on the screen, showing a girl with a bob dark brown haircut and light gray eyes. Her long bangs were pinned up on the top of her head and she was wearing a uniform made of a dark gray blazer and a red-checkered skirt. **She is a third year at Minami Senior High and a potential Spirit Detective candidate.**

"What?" Kuwabara shrieked grabbing his keens as he sat cross-legged on the floor.

 **I need you guys to keep an eye on her for a few days. You have to observe her and report to me on your observation. There is no need to need to say that this mission has to be done with discretion. We don't know the extent of her spiritual awareness. However, lately we noticed that she has been taking care of many low class demons. We've done some research on our own and we discovered that she has a fair amount of spiritual energy. Yet, we don't know what her abilities are or how much she know about her abilities and spiritual energy. This is what you have to find out. If the results of your mission meet our requirements, she will most likely become the next Spirit Detective.**

 **This would be all. I will be expecting your reports in three days.**

There was silence in the room as the screen went off into a void of black, as they were all speechless not expecting this kind of mission. Usually it was something dangerous like taking back some stolen treasure and kicking someone's ass, or taking down some crazy dude that wanted to destroy the world. It was true that the world was more or less in 'peace' but this was somewhat ridiculous.

"If Koenma thinks I'm gonna babysit some human woman he must have hit hard his head." Hiei spat taking his leave.

"Wait, Hiei! Your Jagan is important for this mission." Botan said attempting to stop him.

"Like I care." Were his last words before he disappeared leaving behind only a black after image. The men sighed.

"He's right. Why do we have to do something like this? It's a pain in the ass. I'd prefer kicking someone's ass." Yusuke confessed honestly.

"I have to agree with them on this." Kurama said.

"I don't have the time to stalk someone. Although, I must say she is a pretty girl. I have my studies to take care of." Kuwabara added.

"Why can't Reikai take care of this? It's not a particularly difficult task." Yusuke asked Botan. She gave a nervous smile looking away from their gazes.

"We would. But at the moment, there's some urgent business Reikai has to take care of so all of our free agents are busy dealing with that certain matter." She laughed sheepishly. The men looked at each other trying to figure out an answer. "Please." The girl begged. "We know you are not the Reikai Detective Team anymore but we don't have anyone else to ask and there isn't much time left until the deadline for presenting another detective. Please". The men looked at each other again.

"Well, tomorrow is Friday and I should have some free time. In the weekend too…" Kurama started.

"Yeah, me too".

"I guess I could ask for some days off…" Yusuke looked again at the others.

"We'll do it." They all said in the end. Botan jumped on her feet and hugged them all thankfully. She then informed them that she wouldn't be able to assist them this time because of the other impellent matter. She left shortly after. The guys discussed how to do the mission and when they would each do the stalk, because basically that was what they had to do, the girl. Yusuke had to do most of the job, since he was the one with most free time.

"Sure this would be easier with Hiei." Yusuke said when the other two were leaving.

"I'll try and talk to him again. Maybe I can get him to cover the nights." Kurama answered. Yusuke nodded while Kuwabara scoffed, as if there was any way to make him do something like that. Of course, it would be a total different story if there was some fighting involved, but that was not the case.

\- \ -

"This is it." Hisa said looking at the nameplate on the gate of a lustrous house. Shun nodded. "You nervous?" She asked. The boy stayed silent for few seconds then he nodded. Hisa laughed. "You sure are quiet." She stated and Shun nodded again. "Don't worry so much. I'm sure things will go smoothly." She reassured him. Again, Shun nodded and she let out a sigh. She was nervous, too, of course, but she put up a front for Shun. However, it seemed this didn't manage to calm him in any way. She then heard the boy sigh so she looked at him. He was frowning.

"Shun" she began, but was interrupted.

"They are watching us, Hisa-nee." He said serious. The girl could read a note of worry in his voice.

The day before Shun told her someone was tailing them. They seemed to be hiding their energy so he wasn't sure at first if he was imagining things or if they were being followed for real. However, he was sure after they got in a fight with some random demon after they got out of the hospital the day before in the evening. While Hisa was knocking down the demon, he sensed a demon's and a human's energy that then kept following them. Hisa couldn't tell since she couldn't sense them. Shun was worried but she brushed it off saying that if they wanted to attack her they were welcomed to do so. She would kick their ass.

At the hospital, they were told more about that death. Apparently, the boy's name was Hashimoto Shunsuke. He was six and died because of a rare and very aggressive form of cancer. His diagnose came when he was three years old. And at that time it was already too late. The doctors tried everything. He came from a rich family so they could afford any type of cure. They managed to fight the illness and keep him alive for three years until his body gave in. With the name, Hisae managed to find his family. She was hoping that seeing them would help Shun remember something. Of course, if that was his actual family. They were not sure.

\- \ -

"How is it going?" Kurama asked hiding in a tree with Yusuke. He was supposed to take after Yusuke in some minutes.

"She's talking to herself again." He replied dryly with a slight scrunch of the nose as he didn't understand the girl's behavior.

"I see."

The first thing they noticed after starting tailing the girl was that she talked to herself often. At first, they thought she was talking to some invisible creature, but they didn't sense any energy nor they saw any spirit or the like. The first impression was that she didn't have all her screws in place. Maybe seeing things normal people couldn't see stressed her too much. She had a fine spiritual energy, they noticed, although it gave them an odd feeling, she was a decent fighter and apparently she used some spirit energy when fighting, mostly unconsciously. They learned that she skipped school a lot, she picked fights and was quite feared. Yusuke could relate and actually liked her, if it wasn't for all the self-talking stuff… but heck! He saw lots of crazy dudes in his life and he thought that this wasn't so bad… probably.

"What is she doing here?" Kurama asked looking at the girl standing in front of a big villa.

"Beats me. She skipped school today. Beat some gang to pulp. Went to the library to buy some image-books. Went visiting some places. Saved a girl from a bunch of punks. Then she came here." Yusuke explained gesturing at the house.

"She sure resembles you a lot, Yusuke".

"Right?" He grinned proudly. In all honesty, now that he knew this side of Hisa he was rather eager to start training her, thinking they would go along pretty well.

"I'm starting to wonder if Koenma has a knack for types like yourself."

"She's going in." Yusuke announced. Kurama nodded and looked at her disappearing inside the building.

"What's that?" The read-head asked his friend, who pulled out from his pocket a lens.

"Something Botan gave me years ago. You can see through walls and stuff with this." He explained. "But we have to go closer." He added jumping down.

"So?"

"She's talking to a woman." Yusuke frowned. "She's wearing a black kimono… I think." He was interrupted.

"Hashimoto-san's son died recently."

"How do you know?"

"My mother mentioned it the other day. The boy was very ill and his body gave in after years of fighting the illness."

\- \ -

"So what brings you here Endo-san?" The elder woman, Shun's mother they hoped, asked while sipping from her tea. She was clearly worn out, probably from too much crying. They were sitting at a table and the having tea. Hisa looked around the room searching for something that could confirm her theories, but she couldn't find anything that indicated this was Shun's family. She glanced at him who was staying besides her and staring at the woman. She hoped he would go around exploring to see if he could find anything, but the boy seemed in trance.

"I came to bring you my condolences." Hisa bowed her head. "I knew Shun when he was in the hospital." She lied hoping this could let her have some details regarding the boy. The woman looked at her cup letting a little sad smile ghost on her rosette lips. She was really young a for a mother and already had to face something so horrible as seeing her son die.

"I see. I never knew Shu-chan had a friend like you." She made a pause. "He was a very mature boy for his age. Probably a result from growing knowing his time in this world was short." Hisa's heart twisted and her chest started to ache. She could feel the woman's grief and hearing her say that about her little friend pained her.

"Hashimoto-san, is it ok for me to bring him my greetings?" She dared to ask. If she could see the altar she would be able to confirm whatever this was Shun's mother or not.

"Of course. Follow me." The woman answered standing up. She led Hisa in another room where there was Shun's altar. The lighting was dim and the shapes of the little furniture pressed against the walls were shadowed. Hisa had to get closer to make out the figure in the photo on the altar. A gasp escaped her lips when she noticed Shun was already there, frozen in place.

"Shun." She whispered taking a few more steps forward. The boy suddenly turned around, tears flowing from his chocolate eyes, he hugged Hisa who stood there looking at the photo. It was a picture of Shun smiling widely while holding a plush dinosaur. She felt tears making their way out her eyes and the stinging sensation made her blink a couple of times, forcing them to roll down her cheeks. She had no idea if Shun remembered something or not, the boy was just hugging her crying, either from his memories or the fact his death hit him more than he thought it would.

"Hashimoto-san, I'm sorry." She said truly turning around to convey her feelings to the woman. She placed a hand on Shun's head, caressing his hair. The action made the woman frown. To her it looked like the girl was patting the air. "I lied." Hisa announced. "I don't know Shun from the hospital. I actually met him about a week ago." She tried to fight back a new wave of tears. "He was wondering around crying. He had no memories. My mother used to say that regretful spirits could turn into evil spirits so I figured I had to help him regain his memories so he could move on. We searched for you for the last week. Yesterday we heard about a boy who died around the same time we thought Shun had died and this boy was his age. We figured he could remember something by coming here… Shun is indeed a very mature kid and really sweet I-" She was cut off by her own sobs, forced to take a sharp breath in attempt to calm herself down.

"Get out!" The woman yelled furiously, her voice cutting the girl's crying. Her eyes, too, were filled with tears, of sadness and anger. "How dare you come here and say such lies. My son died after years of fighting and I could do nothing to stop it. How dare you come here and talk like you know him!" She was furious and her voice cracked in some points, but her anger didn't falter.

"Hashimoto-san I'm not-" But she was cut off again.

"I said out!" Hisa clenched her fists in frustration. She had made a mistake by telling her. She ended up hurting her deeply and guilt become to make its way out inside her. She looked down at Shun and the boy reciprocated her apologizing expression with an unreadable one, causing her to frown.

Then all went black.

"She's not lying, mother!" Shun screamed desperately with Hisa's voice. The woman gasped. "Hisa-nee is telling the truth. It's really me. I'm Shun." The woman's eyes widened for a second then another wave of anger clashed on her. She was about to slap the impudent girl for her nerve, but what come out from her lips next froze the incoming slap midair.

"For my fifth birthday you took me out of the hospital to visit the aquarium." Shun said. "When I was four there was a period I was feeling better and came back home. I was so happy I was out that I started eating tons of sweets. It gave me a stomachache. For mother's day I made a drawing of us at the park and asked you to take me when I would feel better." He ended with a deep inhale.

"Shu-chan…" Hashimoto-san said in disbelief looking at the girl, who Shun nodded with a kind a smile.

"Hisa-nee is spiritually aware so I can possess her body for a bit. The moment I saw the altar I remembered everything." He sniffed. The woman launched herself at Hisa hugging her son tightly.

"Shu-chan" Tears flowed again from her eyes. Shun rested his head on the woman's shoulder while she caressed his head in a soothing manner as she would often do.

"I'm sorry, mother." The boy whispered. "I'm sorry for telling those things to you that day." He continued remembering the fight they had before he died. It was a sunny day and he wanted to get out and go to the park, or the beach, or any place that wasn't the hospital. Shun was aware he hadn't much more time and didn't want to spend it on a hospital bed. He wanted to spend his last days with his mother, having fun. "I didn't meant them. I'm sorry for going away without apologizing. I'm sorry-" He was interrupted by his mother sweet voice.

"It's fine. Mommy is sorry, too. I regretted it so much, not being able to apologize. When I came back from work and they told me you… were gone." She cried. She regretted it very much, not listening to him and spending more time with him. If only she knew that that was going to be their last day together… They hugged each other and cried for some more minutes, until, finally, Shun spoke up.

"I can't stay long." He raised his head. The woman looked at him. She wiped his tears away and kissed his forehead, smiling and nodding.

"Thank you for coming say goodbye."

The boy kissed the woman's cheek and smiled. "Thank Hisa-nee."

Hisae opened her eyes and saw the woman looking at her, a grateful expression on her face.

"Thank you for what you did." She bowed. "Now my Shu-chan can finally rest in peace". There was infinite gratitude in her voice and a warm smile adorned her features.

\- \ -

"She's coming out." Kurama announced looking through the lens. He noticed a sad expression on her face. He saw what happened inside the house and wondered what all that was about. He stared at her while she exited the gate, then blushed slightly. "Here." He gave the lens back to Yusuke, almost too quickly. The ex-detective took it and looked through it curiously with a grin on his face. Upon noticing this Kurama hit him on the head. "Stop fooling around!"

"Ow! What's the big deal? You saw it, too." Yusuke whined. It was true. Kurama saw it, too.

"It wasn't on purpose". He truly had no idea the lens could see through clothing, too. Even though, after seeing it, it occurred to him it was obvious.

"Yeah, right." He muttered looking at Hisa leave. "Let's go".

"Yusuke, weren't you supposed to go back home?" Kurama asked following him.

"I can stick around some more. I want to know what was all that about." Kurama smiled at him. _He truly took a liking to her._

\- \ -

Hisa was now sitting on a swing in the park. _Shun. He probably ascended or something._ She sighed kicking the dust with the tip of her shoe.

"What are you sighing for?" Shun asked appearing in front of her face. Hisa's eyes widened and a scream tore from her throat as she fell from the swing on her back. "Are you ok?"

"Don't scare me like that!" She yelled at the boy rubbing the back of her head.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." The spirit boy laughed sheepishly.

"What are you doing here? I thought you ascended or something." She said confused but with a smile as she got up.

"Well, yes. But I couldn't leave without saying goodbye." He smiled. "So I asked for some extra time." Hisa gave him a questioning look wondering who had he asked.

"Hello!" A feminine cherry voice chipped a bit too close to Hisa's right ear. For the second time in two minutes, she screamed out in surprise. Looking at her right, she saw a blue haired girl with pink eyes and a pink kimono smile at her.

She blinked. "Who are you?"

"My name is Botan. I'm a grim reaper." The bubbly girl announced. "I'm here to take Shun to the Reikai."

"You are a grim reaper?" Hisa eyed her blinking a few times and arching a skeptical brow, but she got a nod in response. "I always thought that grim reapers would look a little more… _grim._ "

Botan laughed. "I get that quite a lot".

"Aren't you a bit late?"

"Well… yeah. There were some complications. When a spirit loses his memories it's like he doesn't exist. For this reason, we couldn't locate him. We searched for him everywhere these days, but lost spirts are hard to detect even for us. It's rare for someone to be able to see them."

"I see".

"You actually saved him." Botan added. "A little more and he would have become an evil spirit. It's good you found him. You really always help us a lot." She smiled.

 _Always?_ Hisa thought.

"Thank you for helping me out, Hisa-nee." Shun hugged her.

"No problem, kiddo." She ran her hand through his hair. "Guess this is a goodbye." Shun nodded and let go of her. Botan materialized an oar out of thin air and hopped on it, making Shun sit in her lap.

"Bye-bye, Hisa-nee." Shun waved.

"Be a good boy." She stepped closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll miss you."

"Me too." The boy smiled.

"Take care of him." Hisa told Botan.

"I will." The girl reassured her before flaying away. Hisa looked at them get further and further, knowing she will really miss Shun. He was the closest thing to a friend she had in years. Now she found herself alone again. She laughed at the thought that her 'friend' was a ghost. She couldn't make real friends, but she made a spirit friend. It was for a short period but she really had fun.

 _Back to the routine, I guess._ Her trail of thoughts was interrupted by Botan shouting.

"See you soon, Hisa-chan!"

She blinked at the small figure disappearing at the horizon and slightly tilted her head to the side in confusion, taking in the words of the reaper. _What?_ Hisa gasped. _Wait. What does she mean with that?_ She looked in the sky to see the two disappear completely. _Does that mean I'm going to die soon?_ She gulped.

\- \ -

"What was all that about?" Yusuke asked looking at Hisa who was standing in the park staring at the sky with a horrified expression on her delicate features.

"I guess that was the important business Reikai had to take care off." Kurama replied with a small sigh in his voice. "Looks like she's not crazy." He added smirking at Yusuke.

"Yeah… What should we do now?" They saw it all. Hisa wasn't talking to herself but to an invisible spirit. They saw Botan and heard their conversation.

"Let's continue with the mission for now. Botan will probably contact us soon at this point." Yusuke nodded in agreement. Therefore, they continued to tail Hisae around until sunset. Things went smoothly as Hisa took a stroll around the city before going to her part-time job, then went home after buying some groceries.

"I have to get going now." Kurama said to his friend.

"Me too. I was supposed to go back hours ago. Keiko will kick my ass the moment I step in the house." Yusuke sighed regretting not going back before.

The men each traveled back to their house deciding to meet each other the next day and discuss the latest news regarding their mission.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Why can't it never be a handsome demon?**

Hiei was pissed. Sitting in a tree enveloped by the black of the night and merging with his surroundings using his Jagan to look at a human girl reading some book in her room wasn't exactly his highest aspiration to spend time on. He was wondering how the hell did Kurama manage to get him work with them for this stupid mission. That sneaky fox got him spy the girl during the nights and the fire demon was regretting setting foot in Kurama's house that afternoon. It was the second night he stayed awake to spy her and he was positive that watching ants work would be more eventful and interesting. He didn't see the point in keeping an eye on her during the night, too. What could she do so interesting at night besides sleeping?

 _Dammit!_ _This is boring._ He thought.

\- \ -

 **{** _"_ _Why won't you help us on this? It's not like you have anything better to do." Kurama pointed out._

 _"_ _Says who?" Hiei retorted in a scowl and folding his arms over his chest, challenging his friend with a stare._

 _"_ _Oh, come on, Hiei! We both know that the reason you came it's because you are bored. Things are peaceful now and you are getting fed up with patrolling the borders." Kurama, though, wasn't one to get fazed by his dirty looks as he knew him for a long time and was used to his moods._

 _"_ _Hn."_

 _"_ _I can't guarantee that following Endo around will be fun. I honestly think it is bothersome myself."_

 _"_ _Then why are you asking me to do it, since you don't like it yourself?" Hiei interrupted him abruptly._

 _"_ _It's better than sitting around my room all day doing nothing." He simply shrugged._

 _"_ _If you want me to leave just say so."_

 _"_ _No, I don't want you to leave. I'm just saying that maybe it will be more interesting than staying here all day." He reasoned with a small smile._

 _"_ _Hn."_

 _Kurama sighed. "This girl seems to have some interesting energy. I saw her today. Aren't you curious?" The fox tried to change strategy._

 _"_ _No."_

 _"_ _Hiei." The fire demon looked at the redhead. He knew Kurama wouldn't back off unless he accepted, and heck, he actually owed him, since the fox would let him stay in his room every time he came to check on Yukina or he was simply bored with border patrol. He sighed._

 _"_ _Fine."_ **}**

\- \ -

And there he was. Spying on a human woman when he could do _anything_ but that. Moreover, there was nothing exciting about it. Though it was true that the human had some interesting energy, that was about all and Hiei actually hated the feeling her energy gave him. It was sticky, to put it simply. He got the goosebumps and he could feel a chill run down his back every time he got too close to her, a feeling he hated it. He just wanted to get over with it.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the girl stand from the pillow she was seated on the floor, grab her jacket and get out of the apartment. He frowned.

 _Where the hell is she going at 3 a.m.?_

He followed her, jumping from tree to rooftop, as she ran somewhere. _Tch._

\- \ -

A woman's scream cut the cold air and the shadows of the night. She was crawling trying to run from death. Trying to run from the monster chasing after her with a smirk on its face and eyes filled with blood and hunger. She was terrified, badly injured – blood coming out from her limbs with every foot she advanced, but she felt no pain. The adrenaline rushing through her body numbed the pain pulsating through her muscles. She was breathing heavily while crying out for help, begging for her life and hoping someone would hear her and rescue her, or simply that that was a dream. However, no one came to help her, no one heard her, or they were simply ignoring her.

"Running it's useless. I'm gonna eat you some way or another." The demon on her tail said mischievously while chasing his pray. He enjoyed her screams and her fearful expression. He enjoyed it a lot.

The woman kept running, too scared to speak or look back, until she eventually reached a dead end. For a moment, she felt her heart stop, terror running through her veins. She was going to die. Worse. She was going to die slowly while the monster fed on her.

"Game over, Miss. You're mine!"

She crouched covering her ears and closing tightly her eyes, waiting for the pain to come. But it never did.

"Hey! You sick piece of filth!" A voice stopped the demon in his tracks as he felt something hit his head. His bloodshot eyes travelled to the ground, where a black shoe rested. He turned around to face the fool that dared to interrupt his meal and spotted a hooded figure standing at some meters from him, its right leg midair and shoeless.

"You must have a death wish to interrupt me while I'm eating." His voice was a venomous growl.

"You must have a death wish to dare hunting in this city." The figure retorted unimpressed. A shark-teeth like smirk spread on the creature's face and the sharp ends of his goat horns shone, contrasting with the dark shade of purple of his skin. He was at least two meters tall and black hair covered his limbs and chest like musk on tall ancient forest trees. A deep scar ran on his face making him look even more terrifying.

"God grief." Hisa said. "You are hideous. Why can't it never be a handsome demon?" Her face morphed into disgust and she scrunched her nose at the faint smell of corpses traveling in the light summer breeze.

"Those will be your last words!" The demon shouted as he charged her.

Hisa skillfully dogged. "You are big" She kicked him in the side. "But slow!"

The demon flew a few meters slamming in a wall of concrete. "You little bitch!" He charged again, claws ready to slice the small figure he was fighting. Hisa dogged again but this time the monster managed to slice the clothing on the left arm. The creature smirked.

"This was my favorite jacket!" She spat glaring at him and retaliating with a fist at the creature's stomach making it spit blood and ripping a scream of pain from his lungs. Hisa glared at him and kicked him away against the wall, looking then at the woman the beast was chasing. Hisae saw her watching at them with eyes wide in fear. She sighed. _How am I going to explain this mess to her?_ She scratched the back of her head thinking on how to approach her without scaring the life out of her. The woman screamed and pointed at something past the girl with horror in her gaze.

The blow came fast and Hisa was sent flying against a wall, before she slid to the ground. She tried to get back on her feet but a hand curled around her slim neck and the pressure that followed let her gasping for air as she squirmed to get out of the demon's grasp.

"Did you really think that that would be enough to take me down?" He smirked. "This must be my lucky day. You seem to have some serious spiritual energy. I can't wait to eat you." He said licking his lips. With a claw, he caressed Hisa's cheek, cutting the pale skin and dripping a line out blood out, which he licked off. "Delicious."

"I hope so." She retorted. "Because… that was the last thing you'll ever eat." Her threat didn't seem to affect the demon and instead he laughed at her. But his buoyantly died as soon as he felt pain rising from his lower body, from where Hisa's foot connected with the area between his legs. His grip on her neck loosened and she slipped away as he screamed in agony.

"Humans or demons" Hisa said in a bored tone as she massaged her neck. "All men have the same weak point." She smirked.

"You are a…" The demon tried to say. "Monster."

"I get that a lot." She retorted. "But I don't want to hear that coming from a human eating beast." Her gaze held disgust, something the demon didn't seem to appreciate as he charged her again. Hisa dogged a few blows, noticing that his speed had increased. _I guess I angered him a bit._ A punch directed at her stomach hit the air and she distanced herself from the creature. She kept to move backwards as the demon attacked, until she suddenly came to a stop, smirking.

"You're dead!" The demon shouted aiming his claws at her, but his arm stopped few centimeters away from her face. Hisa grinned. The creature tried to reach her with his other hand but he couldn't move, nor get near her. "What have you done?" He growled.

The girl smirked and pulled out a dagger from her jacket. "I guess you are out of luck." In an instant, her dagger cut through the purple skin and the creature collapsed dead at her feet in a puddle blood, few droplets leaping on her clothes and leaving a red dotted pattern. A sigh left her rosette lips. _Great. I'll have to clean this mess later._

She turned around to face the woman, who was now silent, her eyes wide and full of fear. Hisae began to near her, but then the woman freaked out.

"Stay away! Don't get any closer!" She yelled terrified.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. It's alright. I just want to bring you back home." But the woman didn't calm down. _For fucks sake_. Hisa approached the woman, who tried to hit her, but she blocked her arms and hit the woman between the neck and the shoulder making her pass out. _Better take care of her first._ She looked in the woman's bag searching for her identity card and keys of her house. She would bring her back home, deciding to take care of the corpse after bringing the woman back home so she hid the dead demon in a garbage bin.

\- \ -

Hiei stood on a branch, hands dug in his cloak's pockets, watching the whole scene. He was ready to step in if things got ugly. It was his duty as a border patroller and Endo was human, not to mention the fact that he couldn't possibly let the girl die on his watch, his friends would bother him about this for the rest of his life, and his pride would be stained by the girl's death. However, there was no need for him to intervene. Even though at some point he thought she would be strangled to death, Endo managed to kill the demon. Of course, it was a D-class demon, but she wasn't so bad for a human. Yet, she wasn't good enough either.

 _Why does the Reikai want her to be their detective? Even if she has some power she doesn't even know how to use it properly. It's like she is doing it more out of instinct than ability. She's like Yusuke some years ago. I thought they would want someone a little better than her._

Stepping lightly on the cold concrete, Hiei took out the corpse out of the trash bin and summoned a small black flame, which he dropped on the body, burning it to ashes, before getting back to his spy mission.

 _How the hell did this guy even managed to get here? Judging from his smell, he's been here for a while. He smells a lot like human blood and corpses... I've been around here for a while. How did he manage to evade me?_

He observed the girl intently, as she brought the woman home and got rid of all the evidence of that night's events; throwing the torn and dirty clothes away and wiping the woman clean with a wet towel, before bandaging her injuries and putting her to sleep.

 _She seems used to this._ The fire demon thought, wondering how many times Endo already did that. He also wondered how the hell she managed to paralyze the demon before killing him, and why she didn't do it from the start. It was then that the woman woke up suddenly and panicked once again over seeing Hisa in her house.

Hiei noticed the girl block the woman and pull something out from her pocket. _A pendant._ She said something to the woman, successfully calming her down. Endo made the pendant waver in front of the woman's eyes, letting it swing from right to left and making the woman fall asleep.

 _What did she do?_ For a moment, he wanted to look in the girl's mind, curious about what exactly was happening, but dropped the idea the instant after. _If I look into her head, she could sense me._ This was supposed to be a stealth mission and all his efforts to keep his energy down so he wouldn't be detected would have gone to waste. So he opted to look in the woman's mind, since she was asleep and not spiritually aware so there was no problem. He closed his eyes and focused for a second.

The answer came instantly. _She hypnotized her making her forget what happened to her today._ He smirked as he observed the girl leave and hit the streets again, knowing for sure that she was going to get back to the scene of crime and clean things up. He followed her only to see how she would react upon seeing the body was already taken care of.

Hisa was surprised not to find the corpse where she left it, but soon noticed burn marks on the ground. _Someone must have burned him to nothing._ She shrugged. _Less work for me, I guess. Better get home and take some sleep._ A yawn locked her mouth in an 'o' as she stretched her back and pulled her right in front of her mouth, traveling back home; followed closely by Hiei, who found himself not so bored anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Burn it with fire!**

"Why do we still have to follow her around?" Yusuke complained for probably the millionth time in less than an hour.

"Just a bit more." Botan replied exhausted by the ex-detective's antics, it was really hard for him to stay still for too long. She, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama followed again Endo all the day. Botan had explained them everything concerning Shun and the boys reported their results to Koenma, who decided she was suited to be a Spirit Detective, especially after Kurama told him what Hiei saw the night before, and they were now entrusted with explaining the situation to the girl. "We need to find the right timing." Yusuke looked at Botan with a puzzled expression. Was there really a right timing for what they were about to drop on the girl?

"Like there is a right timing to tell her Reikai wants her to risk her life every day from now on." Kuwabara voiced his friend thoughts, gaining a glare from the reaper.

"She sure eats a lot." Kurama stated in an attempt to ease the atmosphere up, as he saw her order another piece of cake. Hisa was sitting in a café eating cake like there was no tomorrow. All day they had followed her around while she travelled from a restaurant to another. He wondered how could her small body bear all that food. It was beyond him.

"I really envy her. She can eat all that stuff without a worry for her weight." Botan whined drooling at the sight of a piece of strawberry shortcake. They, too, were sitting in the same café, on the other side of the room, disguised with hats or sunglasses. After an hour, Hisa left the shop and took a stroll as they followed her from afar. She stopped to buy a crepe and continued with the stroll through the park, eventually sitting on a swing, eating and enjoying the silence. There was an event in the city so the park wasn't crowded, but rather deserted.

The group of stalkers looked at each other and nodded. That was the right moment. They were about to get out of the bushes and approach her, when they saw a familiar fire demon precede them and near Endo.

"What is Hiei doing here?" Kuwabara asked shocked looking at Kurama, who was as surprised as he was.

"I don't know. But let's watch for a bit." He smirked. He didn't know what Hiei was thinking or if he was aware of them being there, but his behavior made him curious.

"Endo Hisae."

Hisa was taken by surprise when Hiei suddenly appeared before her. She yelped and lost her balance, falling backwards; her crepe fell on the ground and bathed in the dust. Hiei glared at her disgraceful form as she mourned over her food, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"My crepe…" She whispered, the tears falling from her eyes. "You… Why did you have to do that?" She yelled furiously at Hiei, balling her fists in the dirt and responding his glare.

The demon was shocked for a moment, not expecting her reaction. "That wouldn't have happened if you would have sensed me." He retorted, his frown deepening. Hisa was speechless. What kind of logic was that?

"What the hell do you want anyway?" She was in a bad mood now. Hiei smirked and, in an instant, drew his sword, aiming it at her neck.

"Why didn't you dodge it?" He asked after stopping the blade a millimeter away from her skin. Hisa didn't even flinch.

"For two reasons." She raised two fingers. "One: I didn't sense any hostility in you, despite you being a demon with a bad attitude and no manners, but for once a handsome demon. Two: I didn't even see that coming." She explained closing her eyes in a wise expression, as if her words held the secrets of the universe.

Hiei blinked at her incredulous. Then frowned. "You are an idiot." He stated and sheathed his katana.

"Well, I'm sorry." She replied dryly crossing her arms. "You owe me a crepe, however." She added pointing at the crepe on the ground.

"That was your fault. I don't-".

"Oooh! Look who's here! Hisa-chan!" A smug sounding voice cut Hiei off. "Long time no see!"

Hisa and Hiei turned left to see a blond punk and a bunch of delinquents approaching them. The girl sighed. "Hideki…" The boy smirked as she spoke his name. "Did you lose a fight with a palette, _again_?" Hisa asked with a curious expression on her face looking at his clothing. There were so many wrong things with his fashion sense she didn't even know from where to start. She wasn't a fashion maniac and her own style was pretty tomboyish, but at least she knew that violet should never go with yellow and bright green. Hideki was quite the looker with his blond hair and blue eyes, but he had serious problems when it came to choosing clothes or combining colors… like really serious problems.

"You are as funny as ever." He got close enough to touch her cheek and she shot him a glare slapping his hand away. "But you don't have to act so nervous around me." He caressed her hair smirking and ignoring her gesture and look.

She cocked a brow at him. "Oh, but you know how shy I am." She said in a sweet voice. The man closed the distance between them, getting in her face and almost kissing her. "Don't you even think about it." She stopped him pushing his face away.

"Always so shy." He sang ignoring her cold tone.

"What do you want?" She finally asked, earning a smirk from Hideki. He was about to state his business when he noticed a certain demon glare at him.

"Who's the midget?" He asked instead. Hisa glanced at the person in question and saw the demon still standing there glaring at Hideki as if he was about to chop the guy's head off. He had his hands in his black cloak and stood straight imposing his presence even if he was shorter than the blonde.

"Doesn't matter." She replied trying to get the attention off him.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me he's your boyfriend." Hisa felt chills run down her spine and she glanced once again at the demon. He was glaring even more at the idiot. Clearly, he didn't like his assumption. However, Hideki was too thick to notice Hiei's bloodlust.

"He's not."

"Figures. There's no way this shorty would be your type. Who the heck dressed him anyway?" He laughed and his friends laughed along, looking at the demon dressed in his usual black cloak and black pants with black boots. The only things not being black about his clothing being a white scarf and same color bandana wrapping his forehead.

"Did you take a look in the mirror recently?" Hisa retorted, annoyed that the blonde had the nerve to criticize someone else's clothing considering how he usually dressed.

"Hey, how dare you, bitch?" One of Hideki's friends yelled and took a step forward. "You're just lucky Hideki-san likes you, if not I would teach you a lesson and show you your place."

"Really? Be my guest." She said opening her arms. "I would love to kick your ass square."

"What did you say?" Losing his composure, he tried to punch her. Hisa grabbed his wrist and bend his arm, using his fist to punch him in the face.

"But maybe I don't have to, since it looks like you are doing such a great job by yourself." She said looking at the punk's bleeding nose, her lips forming a small smirk.

"You lit-".

"Enough." Hideki stopped his friends raising a hand in the air. "We'll talk some other day, Hisa-chan. Let's go on a date next time." He waved and blew a kiss at her, before leaving.

"Idiots. Why does he even hang out with them?" Hisa wondered aloud watching them leave. "So" she turned around to face an angry looking demon. "Looks like you know me, but who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you before. I would remember someone with such incredible hair." She stated. "How do you manage to do that?" She pointed at his hair getting slightly closer and noticing they were about the same height, though Hiei was a bit taller and had the extra height form his spiky black hair.

"I always wondered about that, too."

Hisa turned around to meet the man the voice belonged to. Three men and Botan were approaching them. A really tall one with orange hair, a guy with black hair and a grin on his face and, she was pretty sure, a model with long blood-red hair and green eyes. She gulped looking at Botan. _So this is it._

"I'm surprised to see you approached her before us, Hiei." The redhead said, meeting looks with the shorter demon.

Hisa glanced at Hiei. Then back at the others. A lump went down her throat as she swallowed dryly before she jumped backwards, putting some distance between her and them and assuming a fighting pose. The group seemed surprised by her reaction and the focus in her hues.

"Three demons and a human, and you all seem pretty strong. I doubt I can take you all down, but I won't die without a fight." She announced. Their eyes widened and they looked at each other before bursting into laughter, which managed to confuse the brunette even more than she already was.

"Fool." Hiei said and she blinked at them, dumbfounded by their laughter while she dueled inside on whatever they were dangerous or not.

"We don't want to kill you, Hisa-chan." Botan reassured her wiping some happy tears away. Hisa gave her a questioning look, slightly loosening her stance.

"Then why are you here, if not to reap my soul?" Her arched brow and tilt of the head caused other laughs.

\- \ -

"I see. So you were the ones following me around these last few days". Hisae said sipping from her tea. They were currently at Kuwabara's place and they had explained the entire situation to her. Who they were, and what they wanted from her while having a video chat with Koenma. Hisa had to force herself not to laugh when they told her the toddler was the prince of Reikai.

"You noticed?" Kurama asked.

"Nope." She replied. "But Shun did."

"I see…"

Hisa sighed, letting her shoulders drop. "And here I thought I was going to die soon." She gave Botan a hard look, who smiled nervously back.

"Don't tell me that's why you ate like there would be no tomorrow, today." Yusuke joked, but the brunette nodded with dread.

"I spent a load of money thinking it may be my last meal." She cried.

"To think someone more idiotic that Kuwabara actually exists." Hiei spoke up from his place on the windowsill, earning a glare from Hisa.

"Shut up, shorty!" Both she and Kuwabara yelled and Hiei answered them with a disgusted expression.

"You are shorter than me." He retorted eyeing Hisa.

"Tch. Is he always so merry and pleasant?" She asked, sharing a look at the others.

"He's actually in a good mood now." Kurama explained and Hisa frowned in disbelief. How was he when in a bad mood then?

"So, Hisae, do you accept the work?" Koenma asked her from behind his screen, folding his hand under his chin and staring intensely at her.

She pondered for a few seconds then shrugged. "Sure." Was her answer. "Sounds like fun." She smiled.

"Endo-san, you do realize that you may risk your life, don't you?" Kurama asked her, surprised she agreed so easily.

"It's worth risking it to protect people from demons." She simply replied rising one brow. "Besides, you guys did the same for a long time, right?" She didn't wait for their answer. "And you're not even human. Well, some of you. So it's just right for me to help."

"Hn. You're a fool. You'll be killed by the first C-class demon you'll run into." Hiei spat, but she ignored him.

"That's why I want you guys to train her." Koenma announced. "I can't let my new Spirit Detective to be killed so easily."

"You didn't seem to care much about it when _I_ was your detective." Yusuke accused the toddler, who laughed nervously.

"Anyway, I want you to train her so she can defend herself and learn to use her spirit energy."

"You must have gone senile if you think I'll babysit this woman any longer." Hiei growled.

"Well, I'm fine with it!" Yusuke said. "I'll finally have an apprentice." He grinned at Hisa, and she was sure she saw an evil spark in his eyes.

"I won't be able to help much due to university, but I'll be glad to assist you Endo-san." Kurama gave her a gentle smile.

"Same as Kurama. I'll show you some great moves when I have some free time." Kuwabara smiled proudly inflating his chest and assuming a triumphant pose.

"By the way," Botan intervened. "What are your abilities Hisa-chan? Hiei said he couldn't figure it out when he saw you kill that demon the other night." Hiei glared, making her flinch and freeze.

"So you've been stalking me, too. I can't believe a powerful demon like yourself didn't notice." She mocked standing up from the couch and nearing Hiei. "But I suppose I should thank you for disposing of that corpse for me. Guess you are a fire demon." She smiled at him while he eyed her curiously.

"Hn." He looked away and Hisa put a hand on his shoulder. Hiei's head shot back at her, eyes glaring. She slid her hand down his arm to his hand never looking away from him. Hiei grabbed her wrist.

"What's your deal? Do you want me to break your arm?" The demon threatened her.

"Oh, nothing. Just thanking you." She smiled kindly. Hiei let her go, but noticed a weird glow in her eyes. There was something about her eyes that made him feel uncomfortable every time he stared into them. It was like staring into a void. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, not by just looking at her at least.

Hisa walked to the other side of the room caressing the wall to her left. The others simply stared at her shocked. She had some guts to approach the grumpy fire demon like that and to touch him and they half expected their friend to just chomp off her hand without a second thought.

"I'll show you." She said while keeping her smile. "My ability." She smirked and starched her arms out in front of her before clenching her fists. On the other side of the room, Hiei felt himself restrained, and immediately shot his head towards Hisa who was standing there with her arms stretched out and fists clenched in front of her, smirking at him with smug expression on her face. The others looked at Hiei first, then back at the girl, confused and curious. Suddenly, she yanked her arms behind her back. The same instant, Hiei flew off the windowsill clashing with the floor with a loud noise; everyone gasped audibly.

"What the…? Telekinesis?" Yusuke blinked shocked.

Hisa laughed. "I wish." She answered looking at an angry fire demon and unclenching her fists. She could feel his glare burn her skin. "Scary." She mocked him. Hiei shot in the air and launched himself at her. Hisa clenched her fists again and Hiei stopped midair few inches from her face. He growled. The others blinked stunned.

"Then what…?" Kurama spoke.

Hisa turned at him and smiled. "Threads." She announced making her threads visible. Threads made of energy restrained Hiei, and there were some attached to the floor and the walls, keeping him midair. "I can attach them to everything, as long as I touch the said surface, with any part of my body, works through clothing, too. I can manipulate them once they are attached to something." She added moving her fingers and making Hiei twist 360°. He growled again.

"Woman, if you wanted to die so badly" he begun. "You should have said so." He gathered his energy and forced the threads until he broke them. The instant after, he launched himself at Hisa knocking her on the floor; he was sitting on her stomach, his katana at her throat.

"Hiei!" Yusuke yelled.

"But as you can see the threads can be broken if forced with enough energy." She stated calmly not looking away from Hiei's glare. "I discovered this ability last year by accident." She added.

"I can't tell if your composure in front of death is because you're very brave or very stupid." Hiei spat.

"Oh, come on. We both know you won't do it." She glanced at the blade grabbing it with her fingers and carefully pushing it away from her throat, not meeting much of a fight. She kept her eyes locked to Hiei's crimson ones as she started to stand. "But I can't get up if you continue to sit on me like this."

"Hn." Hiei stood up. "You have some guts."

"Well, thank you." She smiled. Hiei gave her his back going back to his sitting place. "So, when do we start training?" She turned her attention to their shocked audience.

\- \ -

Three days later, Hisa was on a train directed at Genkai's temple, who apparently was away for a trip for the summer. Koenma decided it was the best place to train her and, with summer break approaching, all of them would join her and Yusuke there. Keiko, Yusuke's girlfriend, would be there too from time to time together with Yukina, an ice maiden who lived there. The others would come and go from the temple for the first two weeks, before moving there almost permanently for summer break. She had to quit her part-time job for the training period. She would also skip two weeks of school, but she didn't care. School was a royal pain in the ass anyways.

When she arrived, Yusuke, Keiko and Yukina were already there. She introduced herself and met Pou, Yusuke's alter ego, a huge blue bird of which the male was very proud to show off, until Keiko told Hisa what Pou's original form was.

It was almost lunchtime and Keiko and Yukina prepared something to eat. Hisa wanted to help but she was politely refused since she was a guest. She would have enough time to help during the time she stayed there, if she could do so after the training, Yukina said. Yusuke seemed excited about the idea. For once, he wanted to be the one giving orders and yelling at some unfortunate soul. Keiko warned him not to be too harsh on her, since Hisa was a girl after all.

"Oh!" Yusuke uttered shortly before sitting at the table to eat. Hisa was returning from her room. Keiko told her to choose any room she liked so she picked one facing a small garden with a big tree by the window.

"What is it?" She was wearing blue jeans and a long sleeve black shirt with an abstract red print on it. It was middle July, but the temperature had been quite low for the season lately and she always suffered the cold.

"Hiei's here." The man announced.

"Looks like he's just in time for lunch." Yukina said smiling. Hisa looked at them and then around; Hiei wasn't in the room, so she figured they sensed him.

"You have to teach me that sensing stuff." She said as she sat at the table.

"I'm surprised you can't sense energy yet." Yusuke said.

"I can tell the difference between humans and demons" Hisa begun. "If I look at them, but I can't sense their energy. Oh, but I can more or less tell how powerful one is by looking at them." She finished.

"So you practically realize you're in deep shit when it's already too late." Hiei commented entering the room.

"Yep!" She sang cheerfully turning to him, a wide smile pasted on her face.

"I don't understand how you can be so carefree about it." The fire demon retorted.

"Well, I have no idea how to sense energy. Don't even know from where I should start training something like that, so there isn't much I can do about it." She shrugged. "Why worry too much about it?"

"Your stupidity must have no limits. That's quite a rare talent."

Hisa stuck her tongue out at him.

"Stop bickering. Lunch is ready." Keiko scolded them.

They all sat at the table, eating. At first, Hiei refused but after Yukina asked him, he sat down obediently. Yusuke laughed at the scene and Hiei shot him a glare. Hisa just observed them confused. Lunch was peaceful and Yusuke and Hisa discussed some aspects of the training menu. He practically covered all her day. She still had time to sleep and eat. But that was all. After lunch, Yusuke wanted to test her a bit. See what she was "made off", as he put it.

As they finished eating, Hiei disappeared. Hisa decided to change her pants to something more comfortable to fight in.

 _Leggings should do._ She thought as she was about to leave the living room and go changing.

"I'll wait for you outside." Yusuke announced and Hisa nodded at him.

"Hey, woman!" Hiei shouted at her as he returned to the living room; he looked like he was fuming.

"What is it?" Hisa asked tilting her head to the side and nearing him. She knew he was referring to her, since he only called her that so far.

"Come with me." He spat glaring at her. Hisa blinked and turned to look at Yusuke with a _what-have-I-done_ expression on her face. Yusuke gave her an _I-have-no-idea_ look and a shrug. She sighed and caught up with Hiei, following him to her room. Hiei opened the door and stood there crossing his arms and tapping his foot on the floor. The girl looked at him first, then inside the room. Her luggage was on the floor and her jacket was thrown on the bed. She noticed a black bag on the floor in the middle of the room that wasn't hers. She eyed Hiei again. He had his eyes closed and he looked like he was waiting for her to do something that was obvious to him, but not to her. She entered the room thinking that that was what he was waiting for, but he didn't budge.

"What is it?" She asked finally. Hiei opened his eyes his glare still vivid in his gaze.

"This is my room."

"What?" The girl blinked at him. "Keiko said I could chose whatever free room I wanted." She retorted.

" _Free_." He underlined.

"This room seemed free."

"Well, it's not. Now get your stuff out of here, before I burn it to ashes."

"I dare you!" She challenged him. Hiei smirked and entered the room, deep down he hoped for her to say that.

"You asked for it." He said in a cocky tone and picked up her jacket. Hisa watched him crossing her arms, confident he wouldn't do it. Her confidence died when she saw him summon a black flame in his right hand and lit her jacket. The piece of clothing burned to ashes in two seconds. Shock wasn't a word that could express her feelings in that moment. She was way beyond that.

"I don't like repeating myself." Hiei said smirking at her shocked expression. He was satisfied. That was exactly the reaction he was looking for. He continued smirking as he watched Hisa grab her luggage and get out of his room slamming the door behind her. He then heard the door next to his room slam signaling she took that room. He took off his cloak, throwing it on the floor and laying down on his bed. He crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes smiling and enjoying the silence.

However, that peace didn't last long. His door slammed open, startling him. He shot his eyes to the room's entrance and saw an angry Hisa scowling. She looked at the cloak on the floor and entered the room. She grabbed the black piece of clothing and raised it in front of her eyeing the demon.

"What?" He smirked. His smirk faded when he saw her pull out a lighter and set his cloak on fire, his eyes wide in disbelief. Hisa stood there and stared at him while the cloth burnt. Before the flames could reach her hand, she threw the cloth at the fire demon. Hiei grabbed the small black fabric and looked at it burn to ashes. He heard the door slam and looked up. Hisa was gone and he still couldn't believe what just happened. He looked back at the ashes in his hands and on the floor.

"Interesting." He smirked deviously.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Don't bore me**

"What took you so long?" Yusuke asked when he saw Hisa catch up with him.

"Sorry, sorry." She shortly answered in a happy voice.

"What did Hiei want?" The man asked getting on his feet and stretching.

"Hm? He just wanted to make sure I was comfortable in my room." Hisa replied as she began to stretch as well, a devious smile formed on her lips.

"I hope you didn't sign your validation to death." Hisa tilted her head at his words. She knew the fire demon was powerful, but she didn't manage to see him as a threat. Maybe because everyone else around him was such nice people, so she couldn't see Hiei as someone she should fear if his friends were good persons. Besides, she didn't sense a true danger when he threatened her, since he didn't mean it for real. She figured that probably threats were his way to communicate with people, so she didn't considered them as a source to worry.

"Don't worry. He wouldn't seriously kill me." Hisae scoffed, dismissingly waving her hand at him. The ex-detective frowned, not so sure about it.

"Endo Hisae." Hiei pronounced firmly from the porch. The two turned their heads at him with curious expressions. "Brace yourself." And with that he disappeared, only to reappear in front of Hisa and blowing her away with a punch in the stomach. Hisa flew a few meters and rolled on the ground. She coughed and slowly got on her feet spitting some blood.

 _Well, that's a punch._ "But I guess he would half beat me to death." She laughed when she was on her feet. Hiei frowned and punched her again sending her flying _again_. She stood up once more. "Oh, come on. Holding a grudge now?" Her words caused more punches from the fire demon. Hisa couldn't even see him, let alone fight back. Apparently, being a girl didn't matter to him. After she lost count of the hits she took, Hiei stopped. She fell on the ground moaning in pain. The demon just looked down at her in a disappointed manner. Hisa rolled on her back, breathing heavily and looking at the sky. Hiei had the decency not to punch her in the face… for now.

"Just so you know" she begun. "I regret nothing." She announced as she turned her eyes to him, grinning. The fire demon smirked. The girl really had guts.

"I see you can take a beating." He said. "However," he glared. "You are weak. You lack stamina, speed and your reaction time is that of a dead grandma. Your control over your spirit energy sucks, you have no idea what you are doing, and you just use it out of instinct; that's why you didn't pass out, yet."

"Well, thanks." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Every day at 3 p.m." Hiei turned his back at her and walked back to the porch. Hisa followed him with the eyes. "I expect you to fight back." He said glancing at her over his shoulder. "Don't bore me." And with that he left.

There was a moment of silence; Hisa pulled herself sitting on the ground and looked Yusuke who was shaking his head.

"Does that mean he'll use me as a punching sack _every day_?"

The ex-detective helped her up and put a hand on her shoulder. "I pity you."

She could really see pity in his eyes, but she just shrugged it off. "So, are we doing this or not?" She asked as she got in a fighting stance.

"You still feel up to it?"

"Of course. I might be weak and all, but I'm pretty stubborn." She smirked and started jumping on the balls of her feet making a _come-and-get-me_ gesture with her hand at Yusuke.

Yusuke was gentler with her. Despite all his threats from before, he held back. He started slowly, so she could actually see the blows coming at her. She managed to dodge and parry as long as she could see what was coming at her, she even landed a few blows on her own. Yusuke speeded up after a while increasing the difficulty. Hisa still managed. He speeded up again, and the girl started having some problems.

They went on for two hours. At that point, she couldn't see Yusuke's blows anymore, he was going too fast and all she could do was standing there and take his hits. Not that seeing them or not mattered, as she was too tired to answer back or dodge even if she were to see them. She put up her arms trying to cover the areas that would hurt more if hit. She tried to focus on her adversary's movements and get used to the speed, and patience paid off as she managed to see the blows at some point, even if it was an instant before they connected with her body so it didn't help her much, since she didn't have the speed to do anything to counter.

 _Better than nothing._ She thought.

"This is enough for today." Yusuke declared, finally stopping punching her as if she were a training dummy.

Hisa was breathing heavily and, when the man stopped, she fell on her knees.

"You ok? Still alive?" He joked. The girl just gave him a thumb up not managing to say anything; she didn't have the strength to do so. "We really have to work on your stamina. From tomorrow on running and scaling." He said helping her up. She nodded and brushed off her face some locks of hair that were sticking to her skin with sweat. "Can you walk?"

"Yes. Don't worry. A shower and I'll be like new."

"You have ten minutes."

"Cheapskate." She pouted.

Hurrying to the shower, Hisae actually managed to be ready in ten minutes. She changed her clothes; another pair of black leggings and a white long sleeved shirt, this time more to cover all the bruises already starting to show on her skin. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but she could take it. She just hopped she her skin wouldn't turn violet forever, but she was sure it will be purple during period she stayed there training.

Yusuke was waiting for her outside. When she caught up with him, they went to a training room on the other side of the temple.

"Now, I'll tell you how we decided to organize your training menu." He sat down and Hisa did the same listening to him intently. "For the first two weeks, you will be training every day with me and, apparently, Hiei. I'll teach you man-to-man fighting and how to use your energy while fighting. You already do that partially unconsciously, but I'll teach you how to do that consciously. Kuwabara will come here every day from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and will work on your energy control. He doesn't look like it, but he is actually good with stuff like that. He will also be the one to teach you sense energy. You'll only have couple of hours with him, since he's busy with his studies, so make the best out of that little time." Hisa nodded. "Kurama will start training you after the first two weeks. He will work on your ability and try to get the best out of it; he's very exigent, so be sure to be ready for him in two weeks." She nodded again. "As for Hiei… I have no idea. It's a miracle he actually accepted to _train_ you, but I have no idea how. He'll probably just fight you every day waiting for you to learn something yourself." Yusuke said scratching the back of his head. "Anyway, don't get yourself killed." He added with a grin.

"I told you: I'm stubborn. I won't die easily. Not before paying him back." She smirked.

"That's the right spirit!" He got up. "Now, let's start." Hisa got up, too, waiting for instructions.

"Stand on your hands." She did. "Now stay in that position until dinner is ready."

"Beg your pardon?"

"I'll come check on you from time to time." He said and he left. Hisa stood there dumbfounded. She looked around and then at her hands. _You have to be kidding me._

Four hours later Yusuke came back. He didn't come check on her not even once. As he entered the room, he saw Hisa still on her hands shaking and sweating. He smirked.

"Dinner is ready." He said and Hisa got on her feet.

"Finally! I could eat a horse." She announced massaging her arms and shoulders.

"You did good standing there for four hours. You'll do four more after dinner."

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

"I'm starting to hate you, you know?"

Yusuke laughed. "Consider yourself lucky you don't have to train with the old hag. I'm going easy on you." Hisa sighed.

They all had dinner; Hiei was there, too. Hisa was pissed because the first thing the fire demon said when he saw her was ' _You stink'_ with a disgusted expression. What angered her more was the fact that he was right and she couldn't think of a comeback. She took another fast shower and sat eating dinner with the others glaring at Hiei the whole time.

After dinner, she went back to her training. Four hours later another shower and sleep.

\- \ -

Hisa wasn't a morning person, so waking up at 5 a.m. wasn't something she could do easily. She didn't hear the alarm, so Kuwabara had to wake her up when he got at the temple. She didn't have time for breakfast as they went straight into training. They sat in the garden; the sun was slowly rising. It would have been a nice morning if she could have enjoyed it.

"We'll start trying to fix a bit your aura."

"Why? Is it broken?" She asked sarcastically.

"No, but it's flowing out of you too much. It's like it's trying to stick itself to mine." He explained trying to ignore her cocky tone.

"How do I stop it?"

"Training." He replied noticing she was getting more serious. "Now close your eyes and relax. Imagine sucking in all your energy."

Hisa frowned, not sure on how to do that. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine her aura like steam that was flowing out of her. Once the image was clear in her head, she imagined it flowing back into her body as if it was being sucked in by a vacuum. Suddenly, she started to feel hot and breathing became hard. She felt her skin stretch as it couldn't contain was she was trying to keep inside. She moaned in pain. Kuwabara stared at her as she focused all her energy in a point inside her body. His eyes widened, as he understood what she was doing.

"Hisa-chan! Don't focus your energy in one point! Your body will tear like that!" He shouted. "You have to distribute it to all your body!"

Hisa frowned and tried to do as he told her. It was harder but she eventually managed to do as requested. She felt better as the energy expanded through her body, her temperature lowered and she no longer felt the pain from before, managing to breathe normally again.

"Good. Now keep it like that".

She focused on controlling her flux for the remaining time. She remained still, eyes closed, until Kuwabara told her she could stop. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"How was it?"

"Good, but you have to learn to do in permanently." Kuwabara answered. "It's flowing out again." He laughed.

"Dammit!"

"Don't worry. You'll learn with time, but I want you to try do this when you have a bit of free time. Like when eating or during breaks. Just keep practicing. You'll see that with enough practice you'll start feeling your flux clearly and controlling it will be easier."

"I hope so." She said getting on her feet.

"Endo-san, breakfast is ready." A sweet voice announced.

"Yukina-san!" Kuwabara yelled happily turning to greet the ice maiden. Hisa shook her head at him, he couldn't be more obvious about his feelings for the maiden. The girl knew about his immense crush the moment Kuwabara told her about a goddess living in the temple, one that she had the honor to live with for some time. The sting of praises to Yukina seemed infinite, but it was also somehow sweet to see how infatuated the man was, so she didn't have the heart to stop him.

"Thanks, Yukina." Hisae said catching up with the two on the porch. "But just call me Hisa." She smiled at the cute demon. Yukina smiled back and nodded.

"Hisa-san." She pronounced and Hisa laughed at the honorific she used, since Yukina was probably much older than she was.

\- \ -

They sat in the kitchen eating a traditional Japanese breakfast. Hisa made sure to eat plenty knowing what was waiting for her. During breakfast, she tried to focus on controlling her aura, but it was more difficult than she expected it to be. Yusuke mocked her and joked about it; she tried to ignore him. At some point Hiei joined them. For the lone wolf they pictured to her, he was there pretty often.

"Purple suits you." He commented at some point looking at her bruises. Hisa was wearing a pair of leggings that went a little below her knees and a short-sleeved red shirt, as it was warmer that day. She glared at him as she thought that he probably came to have breakfast with them just to make that one remark.

"Thank you." She retorted dryly.

When she finished eating, she and Yusuke went training. The menu for the day was made of running through the forest, scaling a mountain – task she actually enjoyed – spar with Yusuke, more running, various repetitions of exercises meant to build her stamina and strength, more sparring, lunch break, and again running and scaling.

It was past 3 p.m. when they reached the top of the mountain, and saw Hiei staring at them with a scowl on his face.

"You're late." He barked.

"Can I have a five minutes break?" The question irritated the demon and he attacked her with a rain of punches. Yusuke sighed, already expecting this outcome.

"Hang in there, Hisa!" He yelled as he left them to their "training".

Hiei was fast. Too fast for her. She couldn't see his attacks at all, so she focused on protecting herself somehow, losing track of the time Hiei went on punching her.

"Are you at least trying to fight back?" She shook her head no, and that pissed him as he resumed hitting her. She tried to focus on seeing the blows and not on the pain, not an easy task.

 _I think I'm getting used to it._ She slowly began to see the punches come, but like the day before with Yusuke, she couldn't fight back. _Maybe dodge…?_ She thought. Suddenly, she saw a kick coming for her from the right. Her heart skipped a beat and she did what her instinct told her to do. _Crouch!_ And she did, but her dodging the kick resulted into taking a punch right in the face. The blow knocking her on the ground.

"Ow!" She yelled, feeling blood coming out of her nose.

"Get up."

"No way. I have to wait for the bleeding to stop first." She pouted at him.

"Get up."

"No!"

"Get. Up."

"I thought you didn't like to repeat yourself." She teased. Hiei approached her and grabbed her collar, pulling her up. He clenched his right fist and got ready to hit her. Hisa stared at him, a hand covering her nose. The demon moved his fist, but instead of hitting her full force, he just lightly poked her cheek with his fist.

"Five minutes." He said letting go of her.

"Thanks." She smiled at him and sat on the ground looking at the sky and waiting for the bleeding to stop.

Hiei sat some meters away from her, both falling silent. When time was up Hisa used her shirt to clean the blood on her face, as the bleeding had stopped. They continued to spar until sunset. Well, it was more like Hiei continued to beat her up until sunset.

When they got back to the temple, she had even more bruises than before. She was really starting to turn completely purple. Yukina offered to heal her wounds, but Hiei stopped her saying pain would do Hisa good. Hisa glared at his remark, but didn't counter and refused Yukina's offer. There was dinner for them on the table in the kitchen, and Hisa decided to eat before shower and sleep. Hiei ate with her, mostly because he didn't want to hurt Yukina's feelings.

After dinner and a good hot shower, she felt like a new person, though the bruises on her skin seemed more visible. She cringed at her reflex in the bathroom's mirror, but quickly shrugged it off.

 _I've been worse._ She thought to herself. _This is nothing._

 **Is it, now?** A voice roared inside her mind, though it was menacing and low, it sounded teasing.

 _Stay put._ She answered back and she got a low chuckle in response.

"Thrilling." She rolled her eyes.

She got out of the bathroom and headed to her room, when she noticed Hiei exiting his room.

"Hey!" She greeted him with a gesture of her hand, but he ignored her and walked past her. "I should call him Grumpy-kun from now on." She muttered to herself watching him leave. Her comment didn't go unheard by the fire demon however.

"If you want me to rip out you voice box." He retorted stopping in his tracks and glancing at her over his shoulder. "Eggplant-woman." He smirked.

She frowned at him. "This is mainly your fault, Midget-kun." She countered returning his smirk at the nickname.

"I see you still have the energy to pick up a fight with me." He turned to her and approached her. "I'll keep this in mind for tomorrow."

Hisa just felt like she dug her own grave. "I hope you do." But she didn't want to chicken out. "See you tomorrow." She walked past him to her room with a tired wave.

Hiei watched her leave, his smirk growing wider on his lips. Oh, how this woman was making things so much easier for him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Welcome to the team**

A week. It passed by fairly quickly and in constant routine.

Hisa learned how to keep her aura in check almost always, though she couldn't do it while fighting. Her stamina increased drastically and her reflexes and speed, too. Yusuke said she was a natural. She learned how to use her energy when fighting increasing the strength of her punches, kicks, and using it to harden her body and defend against hits. She was able to see better Yusuke and Hiei's attacks, parry and dodge them better, but couldn't hit them, yet.

She was in the middle of another training session with the grumpy fire demon… well, lately less grumpy, as he seemed to enjoy "training" the human girl. Hisa was doing her best to avoid getting hit by him.

 _Lesson two: if lesson one isn't usable, if you can't see it or can't stop it, then protect your vital parts first. Be patient. Endure. And wait for a chance to strike._ She thought, focusing on his movements. She couldn't see them all, but her defense stance was good, though Yusuke did some adjustments to it.

"Stop defending." Hiei growled at her. "Fight back. I'm getting bored here."

 _Be patient. Endure._

He groaned in annoyance and aimed a kick at her right side. She could see it and decided to try something. She knew she would have less than a second to react, but it was enough. As his leg was about to collide with her she crouched fast, spinning on her left foot while her right leg aimed a blow at his pivoting leg. The trick succeeded and she managed to make him lose balance, though he was quick to recover as he used his right hand to support himself.

 _Lesson three: once you strike, you have to be lethal. Don't let the job unfinished._ Her thoughts got fuzzy, but her body knew exactly what it had to do.

She put all her weight on her left foot as she launched herself at him, successfully connecting her right knee with his stomach. Hiei felt the pain spread in his abdomen and his breath was cut off, but what surprised him wasn't the fact that she managed to deliver a hit or that it wasn't a weak attack as he expected. What got him off guard was what he felt before the attack. He felt bloodlust, as if she aimed to kill him, and the look in her eyes confirmed it.

He slid a few meters, keeping his ground, when she reached for his throat. Quickly he grabbed her wrist and aimed a kick at her legs, but she jumped last second, dodging him. However, he still managed to twist her arm behind her back and force her to her knees blocking her other arm in the process.

"Ow!" She winced as he pulled her arm up on her back.

"Hn. That wasn't half bad, but if you think you can kill me you are out of your mind."

"I wasn't trying to kill you." She protested. "Let go. It hurts."

Hiei observed her carefully. _She's saying she wasn't trying to kill me, but that was genuine bloodlust._

"Hiei!" She yelled and he flinched at the name. That was the first time she called him using his name. "Let go." She repeated. He let go.

"Again." He said, getting in front of her and deciding to verify if she could pull that again.

"Can I have a five minutes break?" She asked sitting on the ground with her legs crossed instead of getting ready for another round.

"No."

"Oh, come on!"

"I gave you one two hours ago."

"Exactly. Two hours ago! Don't you think I deserve another one? After all, I did a good job just now. That did hurt." She smirked and she received a glare back. "Or maybe not…" She corrected. "But I'm tired."

"You have enough energy to argue with me. You can go through another round." He retorted. "Now get up."

"I'm not moving." She crossed her arms closing her eyes. _I need to calm down._

Hiei growled at her. He had to admit that she was stubborn as hell and he knew she wouldn't move from there no matter what. This scene occurred many times during their training sessions.

"Five minutes." He said as he sat in front of her.

She opened her eyes and smiled widely at him. "Thanks." She said before closing her eyes again and started meditation. It was something she discovered it helped her calm down and put order in her mind.

 **That was a good move.** The voice echoed.

 _Shut up. I told you to stop bothering me. This is not the right time or place for a little chat._

 **I'm just here to help you, child.** It retorted.

 _Then return to your silent sulking. It was helpful when you stopped talking to me._

It chuckled. **Wasn't that because you sealed it away?**

She frowned.

 **But it's coming off and you know it. How much will it take? Isn't this why you accepted that toddler's offer?**

 _Shut up._

Its chuckling echoed in her mind slowly fading away.

Hiei observed her as she tried to control her aura. She was getting better at it, though her fighting skills were improving faster. He was impressed, honestly. He never met a human that improved that fast, but he knew few humans anyway. He noticed her frown and saw a small waver in her aura, but it quickly disappeared returning to it's usual calm flow.

After a while, he spoke up. "Time's up."

Hisa opened her eyes and breathed in deeply before she got on her feet. "Ok. I'm ready."

And with that he charged her.

\- \ -

"Ow." Hisa winced touching her bruises and examining her body in the bathroom's mirror. "I really look like an eggplant." She sighed. A week and her bruises were all still there, though now she was doing a little better.

 _However, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing._ She thought getting dressed. _My body seems to hit the bases pretty quickly. I'll have to work on my control a bit harder or it will turn out ugly._

She exited the bathroom while drying her hair with a towel and humming something to herself. _I could do a bit of meditation before sleep._ She decided and headed downstairs to the porch.

The breeze was nice, not too cold, and the sky was black and covered with a sheet of starts. She sat down crossing her legs and closing her eyes, focusing on her aura. It wasn't even ten minutes before she got interrupted by Yusuke.

"Hey, tiny. What are you doing still up? Isn't it past your bedtime?" He teased her.

She cracked one eye open and glanced at him. He was drinking a beer while wearing what seemed like a pajama. "Oh, sorry mommy. Can I please stay up for another hour?" She retorted mimicking a cute voice.

Yusuke laughed at her sitting next to her. "I see you take the whole training stuff pretty seriously."

"Well, since you are all spending your time on me, it's the least I can do. You even took that long leave from work for this." She answered. "Where's my beer?"

"Kids can't drink." He answered taking a sip from his beer.

"You aren't of age either, mister." She retorted.

"Shut up." He nudged her shoulder lightly and she chuckled. "Why did you accept?" He asked in a serious tone.

"You mean becoming a Spirit Detective?" She asked back and he nodded. "I told you already, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but that's the only reason?"

She studied him before answering. "Pretty much."

"So there's much to it." It was statement, not a question.

"Not really. I just want to become stronger and protect Ningenkai. I can see things that others can't since I was a kid. I fought demons for years. Working for Reikai doesn't change much, so there wasn't really a reason for me to refuse." She explained.

Yusuke sighed. "I used to hate the job. I was forced into it. If I had to choose back then I would have refused."

"Then would you change it if you could?"

He mused for a while. "Nah. It was pretty fun in the end. And I met some awesome friends." He grinned. "I didn't say it yet, but…" He ruffled her hair. "Welcome to the team, Hisa." He said, as his grin grew wider. "We're a weird bunch, but I hope you can put up with us." He added getting up and parting, waving at her. "Work hard." He said before entering the temple, leaving her to her meditation.

Hisa stared at the empty spot he left, not quite understanding what that was.

"A team, huh?" She muttered to herself and, though she was happy she couldn't help but feel a little pain in her chest.

 _"_ _We're a weird bunch, but I hope you can put up with us."_ Yusuke's words came back at her. She breathed in deeply before breathing out slowly.

 _That should be my line, Yusuke._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Look forward to it**

"I was wondering" Hisa began in the middle of her training with Hiei. "At first you didn't want to train me" she continued while blocking the demon's blows. "So why did you change your mind?" A kick connected with her side and send her on the ground of the small clearing in the forest. She rolled for a few meters before stopping and massaging her ribs. "Ow! I think you just broke a rib or two."

"If you have the energy to complain, you have the energy to fight back. I'm getting bored." Hiei retorted ignoring her complaints. She rolled her eyes at him. He said he got bored every day, but he continued to train her, and lately he was actually training her seriously, not just beating her to pulp. Of course, he wouldn't admit it, but she noticed how sometimes he purposely aimed at her uncovered spots while giving her the time to cover before he could actually place a hit. She figured it was his way to correct her stance.

"Yusuke says that you are holding back on me, but I don't think you are." She said with a pout.

"If I wasn't you would be dead already."

"So it's true you don't want to kill me after all." She smirked at him.

Hiei smirked back at her. "I have to admit that beating a human on daily basis without anyone complaining about it is more appealing than simply killing you."

Hisa cocked a brow at him. "Do you hate humans that much?"

"I don't see your purpose for living." He stated.

"Really? Then what about demons? What's their purpose for living?" She questioned wearing a scowl.

"You weak creatures are just infesting the world."

"Weak? Say that to the dozens of demons I killed until now. They may differ." She crossed her arms holding his stare. "There may be weak humans as you say, but not all of them, like not all demons are strong like you. Besides, strength is not measured only in capability to fight."

"Hn." And that was his last reply before resuming the beating, he was probably pissed by their conversation as he held back a little less.

Hisa learned a few things about Hiei during her time at the temple. Hiei was short-tempered and often impulsive. Most of time he resorted to violence to solve his problems and didn't talk much. He was a training and fighting maniac, he was harsh with his words, he glared most of the time at everyone and often with no apparent reason, and one example was how he glared at Kuwabara every time he spotted him. His smiles were smirks and she often tried to imagine him smile or laugh, but he was hard to picture. She felt it was a waste of a handsome face to always wear a scowl on it. Moreover, she learned that most of the time he wasn't honest with others or himself; him telling her he bored him continuously was one example. She knew he enjoyed fighting her and she was starting to enjoy it, too. She couldn't picture Hiei as one to stick so much to something he hated, especially when no one expressly forced him to.

While Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina and Keiko would gladly answer any question she had and tell her about their past if she asked, Hiei always glared at her whenever she asked about his past. She figured it was a sore spot and after she asked once, she never asked again. Everyone have things they don't want to talk about. Hiei seemed to have a lot. She had plenty on her own, so she didn't press on the matter. However, the others told her some things about him. About his difficult personality in particular. Yusuke told her he was cold to everyone in the beginning, but if she was patient enough he would eventually at least get used to her, and maybe warm up to her, who knows.

She felt like it would take him ages to warm up to her, but she actually liked the grumpy fire demon. Their continuous bickering was fun and she wanted to know more about him because he strangely intrigued her.

\- \ -

A miracle happened that day and she managed to finish her training with Yusuke half an hour before he handed her to Hiei. That had to be a good day. She had time for a serious break, though she had to admit, Yusuke was more generous with breaks than Grumpy-kun.

She practically skipped on her way back to the temple, as she had time for a snack. It was hot and no one was going to stop her from eating a nice ice cream.

She made her way in the kitchen, waving goodbye to Yusuke who was going to hit the shower before going on a date with Keiko. That was probably the reason they ended earlier and she mentally thanked Keiko for forcing Yusuke to a date, which was usually the case.

As she headed to eat her vanilla cold snack on the porch, she got a glimpse of a certain handsome redhead enter the huge yard in front of the temple. How could Enma be so unfair to the world and give so much good looks to a single person? Kurama should apologize to the world.

"Kurama!" She chimed and waved at him, as he got closer. She liked Kurama, not only because of his looks, but also because he was nice to talk with. He didn't visit much, and usually just for a couple of hours, but she was grateful he would sometimes spend some time chat with her.

"How are you, Hisa?" He asked, offering her a gentle smile.

She smiled back at him. "Taking a break before Grumpy-kun puts me through hell."

Kurama chuckled and sat next to her. "He wouldn't like it if he heard what you called him."

She rolled her eyes, smile never fading. "I know. He already threatened me to rip out my voice box."

"And as usual you didn't take him seriously." He concluded.

"Yep." She sang.

"I actually just talked with him." He told her crossing his legs and folding his hands.

"Is that so."

"He said you are a fast learner. He seems pleased with your progress."

Hisa studied him for a bit and then smiled knowingly. "But he didn't actually voiced that clearly aloud, did he? That's what you read between the lines."

Kurama blinked at her a bit surprised that she had caught on that. "Yeah… You seem to know him well."

"He's interesting to observe."

"Really?"

She nodded. "He's pretty cool, attitude and all." She said eating the last bite of her ice cream. "But I have to run, now. He'll get angry if I'm late." She added standing up and stretching for the run to the clearing.

"Good luck." Kurama smiled at her and she smiled back, giving him a thumb up and a 'bye' before she dashed through the yard and into the forest.

Kurama watched as she disappeared thinking about his talk with his best friend. _I didn't expect him to get so caught up in training her. I guess I have something to look forward to._

\- \ -

"Say" Hisa attempted another conversation some days later on their way back. "You say you hate humans, yet you have human friends."

"I don't have friends." He replied dryly, it was the first time he decided to walk back with her, and he was already regretting it. The reason he decided to accompany her back was that she did prove to be of some entertainment that afternoon, managing to fight back a little more than usual. She was getting used fast to his speed and fighting style and that managed to peak his interest enough to give her a bit of extra credit. So when she asked him to go back with her, he agreed.

Hisa gave him an odd look. "Then what do you call Yusuke and the others?" She questioned and waited for a reply that never came. She grinned at him after a while, breaking the silence. "See, you do have friends."

"Hn. I don't befriend humans." He defended. One thing that bothered him about her was the fact the she talked a lot. She always tried to start a conversation with him and get to know him better. He wasn't interested, but he sometimes answered back, mostly to mock her or try get on her nerves. Getting on her nerves was sometimes easy and sometimes impossible. And as time passed it became more impossible, as she seemed to brush his words off with a smile and not pick a fight with him. He figured she was trying hard to befriend him and get on his good side, but he didn't have enough of a reason to befriend her back, so he remained pretty hostile to her, though he was getting used to her.

"Kuwabara is a human." She stated.

"I hate the fool." He said in a harsh tone.

Hisa thought for a second, it was true the two weren't exactly on good terms, but hate seemed a little too much. "You have to care to be able to hate." She concluded.

Hiei growled in annoyance. "You talk too much." She always looked too much in his words and he hated that most of the time she saw in them something he didn't said but thought. The human woman was good at reading people. She reminded him of Kurama, but more annoying since she voiced her assumptions and thoughts more than the fox.

"Well, I have to! You never say a word unless I don't try to start a conversation." She defended gesturing at him.

"Never thought I'm not interested in having a conversation with you?"

She mused for a bit looking at the branches above her. "I just thought you are shy." She answered, smiling at him widely.

Hiei observed her and her cheerful expression, before she tripped on a root falling face first. "Fool." He chuckled looking at her while she got up moaning in pain and massaging her now bleeding nose. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to walk back with her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – I have a deal for you**

The second time Hiei decided to walk back with her was a few days later and the reason was something it happened during their training. At some point, during a pause she begged for, he tried to read her mind while she was meditating, thing she did during every break.

He noticed one thing since he started her training, sometimes when she was meditating her aura would waver oddly. At first, he thought it was because she wasn't able to control it well enough yet, but as she got better at it this started to seem off. So he decided to read her mind to see what she thought about during meditation that caused that weird waver.

Much to his surprise, he couldn't read her mind. The woman had a barrier in her head, and not some skimpy weak barrier, but a solid and thick one. When he hit it, he tried to push it a little, perfectly aware that she might notice him, but she didn't even flinch. She was completely unaware of his attempts to pierce the damn wall. After a while, he stopped, seeing it was useless and knowing that pushing harder could damage her brain.

He was surprised she could build a mind barrier that strong, though he guessed she was doing it unconsciously, like many things she did, as she wasn't able to sense him trying to pass through her mental wall. However, that wouldn't stop him, he will try again when she was asleep, since barriers are weaker and more vulnerable while sleeping. Now that she had a barrier at protection of her thoughts, he had to know what she was thinking about.

"Hiei." Hisa called snapping him out of his trance.

"What?" He glanced at her and noticed she was eyeing him with… was that worry?

"Nothing actually, but you were spacing out and…" She trailed off and started looking around as if she was searching for the right words thought the vegetation.

He got impatient. "What?" He growled.

"Well… How do I say this?" She scratched the back of her head.

"Just say it. You're getting on my nerves."

"You stepped on _something_ and you didn't even noticed it." She pointed at his feet. "It stinks." She pinched her nose, disgust painted on her face.

Hiei frowned at her, but she was right, he did smell something. Looking down… shit. Like literally. That was her fault. He spaced out because of her; she could at least have warned him before he stepped on it. Useless human woman. He grimaced in annoyance as he cleaned his foot on the grass cursing the nature.

On the other hand, Hisa was trying not to laugh at him, but it was hard and she eventually gave up on holding it in, bursting into laughter and immediately getting death glares from the fire demon.

She noticed the looks she was getting from him and tried to refrain a little. "Sorry… sorry." Not a simple task. "It's just that I didn't expect you step on it." She wiped a tear from the corner of her right eye. "I even told you to watch your step, but you were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn't hear me." She warned him? Really?

He growled at her in response and turned on his heels, walking away. She blinked at him a few times before catching up with him.

"Hey, wait." She was beside him. "Don't sulk now. It's not my fault. Besides, I know you laughed at me inwardly when I fell flat on my face some days ago. This just makes things even. If you have to blame someone, blame the karma."

"Shut up. Your voice it's annoying." He groaned.

She rolled her eyes. "Too bad for you, since I won't shut up. You'll have to rip off my voice box if you want me to shut up." She smirked at him.

"Careful with your words. You are tempting me." He smirked back.

She chuckled. "Are you sure? If you do it then you will never hear my voice again. Won't you miss me nagging you?"

"Hardly." He scoffed, rolling his eyes.

She shook her head, but didn't say more as they returned back to the temple.

Yukina saved some dinner for them, but Hiei disappeared before they entered the temple so she ate alone before hitting the shower and then the bed.

\- \ -

During the second week, Kuwabara started teaching her how to sense energy, since she was doing well with controlling her aura, and how to hide her energy. Hiding was like keeping her energy inside, but at the same time trying to lower it. Sensing was a bit more difficult as she had to cut off all her senses and _"see with the mind"_ , as Kuwabara put it. He said with time she would be able to do it automatically. Hisa wasn't sure she could ever manage to do that so easily at first, but she was slowly getting a grip of it.

Her training with Yusuke and Hiei didn't change. Yusuke continued to tire her to death before handing her to the fire demon who then beat her to pulp.

"I think…" Hisa tried to speak while laying on the ground panting. "I'm getting better at this." She managed to say between heavy breaths. She was laying on her back in the usual clearing, the sun was setting and it looked like her training with Hiei was done for the day, not like she could move even if he wanted to continue. She felt her limbs sore and her head was spinning due to lack of oxygen, the fire demon was more strict that afternoon and she was feeling it on her body.

"Hn. There would be no point in doing this every day if you didn't improve at all." Hiei said while staring dawn at her.

Hisa smiled at him. "So you care. I thought you only did this to have an excuse to beat an innocent girl." She countered in a sweet voice.

"I don't see any innocent girl around here." He retorted looking around. Hisa laughed a bit before closing her eyes, inhaling deeply.

"I can't move." She noted. "I'm sore all over."

Hiei smirked at her. "Have a safe trip on the way back." He said before disappearing.

She stared for a few moments at the spot he stood a second before, the situation slowly sinking inside her brain and processing what Hiei meant. "You have to be kidding me!" She yelled after a while realizing how the bastard left her there, aching and unable to move. "You damn midget! You can't just leave me here! Come back so I can kick your ass square, shorty!" She shouted at the sky, but Hiei didn't come back.

She eventually tried to go back on her own after waiting for him for an hour, mostly because it was getting dark and colder and she wasn't up for spending the night outside. The trip back was a pain, literally. She was having huge problems making her way through the forest and the dark wasn't really helping. She cursed the fire demon in her mind for abandoning her there, it was his fault she was in such pains, and his fault that nobody came to look for her, since it was normal for them to go back late from training.

"And here I thought we were starting to get along." She muttered while walking through the vegetation using a stick to support her and praying whomever god was in listening that she didn't trip or slip on a root again. "Stupid grumpy fire demon."

"And here I thought I should help you back." A voice called and she looked up to see Hiei standing, hands in pockets, on a branch staring down at her.

She scoffed at him. "I bet you are just here to mock me, surely not to help me." She looked away from him, trying to ignore him and the smug expression he had painted on his face.

"You do realize you are going in the wrong direction, right?" He teased her. Hisa flinched at his words, as she didn't sense he was lying. She had no idea if she was actually lost, and the forest got tricky at night. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at him, pouting. Hiei said nothing but continued to stare at her. She swallowed and looked at the ground then back at him.

 _Dammit!_

She frowned and closed her eyes defeated. "Can you please help me back?" She asked at last, though she didn't want to ask him for help after he abandoned her, the temperature was quite low and she was only wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts and catching a cold wasn't on schedule. In a moment, Hiei was before her crouching with his back to her, looking at her over his shoulder and smirking. She frowned at him, but then hopped on his back. "Thanks." She muttered under her breath. He was the one at fault for the whole situation, yet he was making her thank him.

Hiei leapt in the air as soon as she was secured on his back. Hisa yelped at the sudden movement and gripped on his shirt as he jumped from tree to tree. Though the cold wind was biting her exposed skin mercilessly, she wasn't as cold as she was before. Hiei was warm, warmer than anyone else, and she buried her face in his back to prevent the wind from hurting her eyes and to feel that warmth a little more. She couldn't help but notice how good he smelled, soap, as he probably took a shower, and something she figured was his own scent.

 _A bonfire._ The image materialized in her head as she inhaled his scent. To her, Hiei smelled like a bonfire, the fragrance of burnt wood and smoke and another peculiar note. _The scent of fire._ She barely held in a giggle as she thought this. _Wild and dangerous, yet warm and kind._

They got back fast to the temple and as soon as Hiei landed in the yard he let go of her, making her fall on her butt with a thud and disappearing the next second.

\- \ -

Lightning cracked across the reddish sky of the Makai; a storm was approaching.

His silver locks moved as the wind danced around him. Pitch black eyes scanned the lands under his eyes. A grin crept on black lips as he heard footsteps approaching behind him. He didn't bother to turn or greet who was nearing. He heard her come to a stop and he could tell that she bowed and kneeled.

"Sir, he's here." A melodic voice announced. He merely nodded and made a gesture with his hand. She stood up and her heels clicked on the marble floor as she approached the door, opening it. Another pair of footsteps could be heard. They were softer but fierce and resolute at the same time.

He chuckled and his voice rumbled like thunder.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" He asked, though it was a rhetorical question. He turned on his heels to see the face of his visitor. "I'm impressed you made it here in one piece." His voice was dark and echoed through the large almost empty room. "So tell me." He took a few steps towards his guest. "What brings you here?"

"I have a deal for you."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – What's a Jagan?**

I woke up at 5 a.m. as usual, though I did find it odd that I actually got used to wake up so early in the morning. Guess that going to bed exhausted every night made me sleep better so I could wake after only six hours of sleep; I got used to sleep at least eight hours per night in these last few years, in a way or another. Sure, there were those nights when I would take a stroll around the city to kill some demon, but then I would skip school the next day to sleep in. It has been almost two weeks since I started training at the temple and the life I had before seemed far away.

I liked it there. Better than I ever liked anything else. I liked the people there, and liked spending my time with them, even though it was just training.

I liked Yusuke; he was like the older brother I never had and always wanted. I liked Yukina; she was like a little sister, kind and heartwarming, this is how every little sister should be. I liked Botan, though she could be noisy and nosy, she always managed to steal a smile from me somehow. Her carefree attitude and bubbly personality were like a summer day, and I love summer. I liked Keiko, who came visit from time to time, along with Kurama. Keiko would always tell Yusuke not to be so hard on me and remember him I was a girl at the end of the day; Kuwabara always backed her up. They would scold him because of my bruises, and would scold Hiei, too, when they got a glimpse of him. Dinner was always noisy when Keiko or Botan were there and it was even more fun when Kuwabara was at the temple, as him and Hiei would always bicker. Seeing them _get along_ was amusing and it was even more amusing getting glares from the midget every time I said they looked like an old married couple. Yusuke agreed with me on this one, but he and Keiko also looked like that to me.

Out of everyone, I liked talking with Kurama the most. He was always calm and gentle with words and it was easy to talk with him about anything. I would seek for a chance to talk to him every time he visited. We would discuss about school, books, music, flowers and plants, my training or whatever came to mind. At some point, I worried about annoying him, but he said he liked talking to me, too. We also discussed a lot about my abilities and about how he thought working on them. I was surprised he was giving it so much thought. When I asked why, he wasn't sure why himself. In the end, he said it might be because he was bored and I gave him something to think about, and there was also his fox curiosity.

I glanced at the vase with yellow orchids on my desk, a present from Kurama from when I told him I loved orchids. He said yellow orchids symbolized friendship and new beginnings, and I was really happy with his present. I looked outside and noticed the lavender color of the sky; it seemed it was going to be a nice day. I put on a pair of dark green sporty crop pants and a simple white shirt, pretty boyish outfit, but I wasn't the exact picture of femininity, something Botan and Keiko often complained about, like how I should valorize my body more. I didn't see what was there to valorize, since I was quite muscular and didn't have that much chest, I was positive I could pass as a boy with the right clothes and haircut, if it wasn't for the petite size of my body, fucking one hundred fifty centimeters. But then again… Hiei wasn't than much taller than me, maybe a couple centimeters taller, then there was his hair, which gave him at least fifteen more centimeters, and you could never mistake him for a girl, despite his height.

Talking about the shorty… I mean Hiei; I liked him too. Attitude and all. I didn't like him in the beginning, he had a talent at getting under my skin, and I'm positive I often get under his skin, too. It seemed he liked seeing me angry or in pain, sadistic bastard. However, there were some occasions when he was "nice", for being Hiei that is. He would always call me names, like 'fool', 'idiot', 'woman' or just 'you'; there was also 'eggplant-woman' at some point, a reference my purple bruised skin. He would use my full name when he was irritated with me or was up to something nasty, like a new way to torture me. But at the end of the day, that was what made him Hiei and I tried to befriend him, a lot, because he was so hard to understand and he wouldn't befriend me like the others, so I felt like I had to do the job. Not a simple job and he never tried to make it any easier. I would try to have a conversation with him, and he would just hit me in response or not answer at all.

After five days of bugging him with questions, I eventually got some answers and it was easier after that first step. He would reply more and even began mocking me more than before, I did the same in return, so our conversations were usually made of trying to corner one another with words. I'm proud to say it was my win most of the time. He might have a jackass attitude, but he was no match for my oratory skill.

After almost two weeks, I reached the conclusion that Hiei was Hiei, and I liked Hiei the way he was, though it did take some time to like him. It's just that he didn't leave a good first impression, or second, or third, or… whatever, we somehow managed to pass that and have a decent relationship… I think. I even understood some things about him. Like how he couldn't be honest most of the time.

I went downstairs and checked if anyone was awake, no one. I sighed as I made my way to the porch for my morning meditation. I liked meditation; it calmed me and helped me keep my mind serene, though it wasn't always easy to keep a certain thing in my head in check. Control was something I always wanted, but had no idea how to obtain it. I was hoping that this training would help me control all my power, even the scary part of it, which I never told the others about. I wasn't ready for that, though I did told them I would sometimes have premonitory dreams. Kuwabara and Kurama would have some from time to time, too. For Kuwabara was due to his great amount of spiritual energy, for Kurama was because he was a youko, however they didn't know what was the cause for me. I have a good amount of spiritual energy, but not as Kuwabara and I'm definitely not a youko. We figured it was another ability that I had.

I laid on my back on the porch and took a deep breath starting to focus on my energy. Today I had to do it alone as Kuwabara had an exam to take and couldn't make it to the temple. I tried to isolate myself from the world and focus on sensing energy, and I could sense Yusuke and Yukina in the temple, sleeping. Yusuke was a blue figure while Yukina was mint green, like the color of her hair. After a while, I sensed someone else, a golden dot in the distance. I tried to measure the distance between us, but it was useless as I noticed he was coming towards me, fast. I knew who it was and didn't move from my position, waiting for him to arrive.

"Slacking off, huh?" I heard Hiei's voice as he landed beside me.

"Am not." I answered, eyes closed. "I'm training." I couldn't see it but I was sure he was frowning at me. I smiled and opened my eyes to look at him. "I saw you coming."

"Hn." He sat next to me and I pulled myself sitting.

"I was wondering" I began, attempting another conversation. "Is ' _Hn'_ your catchphrase or something?" I asked looking at him. He was gazing in front of him at some indefinite point.

"Hn."

"Is that a yes?" I scoffed. "I can't tell since you always answer me like that. At least when you don't insult me or mock me." I frowned. Hiei scoffed; a smirk on his face as he turned at me. I raised a brow at him smiling. He looked away.

"Just when you get on my nerves." He replied. I found it amusing and I laughed a bit. I stood up and made my way inside. I had an idea on how to make our time more pleasurable. I came back few minutes later with two ice creams, I knew he liked them, Kurama told me.

"Here." I offered him one as I took a bite from mine. He turned to look at me and stared at the ice cream for a while. I frowned and shrugged as I saw he wasn't taking it. "More for me I guess." As I pronounced those words, Hiei reached to my wrist and grabbed it using the other hand to take the ice cream. I laughed at his gesture, and sat down continuing to eat, he was such a tsundere.

We sat in silence for a while, before I decided to attempt another conversation. One might think it was tiresome to try to be friends with someone who clearly didn't want to be friends with you, and I thought of giving up at some point, but Kurama convinced me otherwise. Hiei was just a bit difficult in the beginning, but it would eventually become easier with time and patience, at least Kurama _and_ Yusuke said so. I wanted to trust them and give it a try, I would stop when Hiei will tell me I was a nuisance to him… maybe.

"So" I began. "What's a Jagan?" I glanced at him, seeing him turn his head at me, frowning. "Yusuke said you were stalking me at night with the Jagan, but didn't say what it is, so I'm asking you." He stared at me for a bit and I stared back, something we did often. For some reason, Hiei was the only person I could stare so much at, probably because I liked the color of his eyes and would stare at those crimson orbs for hours. He sighed as he took off his bandana and I noticed some kind of scar on his forehead, a scar that opened revealing a purple eye staring at me. I let out a whistle. Now, that was impressive. Short stuff had a third eye, didn't see that one coming. He, looking so human, made me often forget that he is indeed a demon, guess demons have these kind of extras.

"This is a Jagan."

"So you have three eyes." I scoffed. "Can you see through walls or something with it?" I asked, as I got closer to take a better look at the purple eye. It intrigued me and I used a finger to trace the skin around it.

"More or less."

"How far can you see with it?" I continued as I glanced at the eye from various perspectives, it seemed like no matter from where I looked at it the thing stared at me. A bit creepy, but not less interesting.

"Quite far." I frowned at his vague answer, typical. "It's melting." He said pointing at my ice cream.

"Crap!" I quickly licked the melted ice cream from my hand and ate the rest of it in one gulp. "Shit! Brain freeze!" I moaned as I massaged my temples trying to warm up my brain. He stared at me shaking his head as he finished his ice.

"So what else can that eye do?" This was good material for conversation, so I wasn't going to let it die easily.

Hiei raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the stick from the ice cream that I left of the floor. I wondered what was so interesting about it, it was a loser stick, but the answer came when the thing leaped at me hitting my forehead.

"Ow! What the!"

"Slight telekinesis." He smirked.

"Well, that's cool! Anything else?" I always wanted telekinesis, lucky bastard.

"Mind-control, mind-reading, telepathy and it's also an energy focus."

I whistled again. "Now I wish I was born with one, too."

"I wasn't born with it. It's an implant." He corrected me.

"Oh. Did it hurt?" I asked. "Getting it I mean." I pointed at my forehead.

"No." He looked away… I smelled the lie.

"I see. Then maybe I could get one, too." I laughed.

"Only demons can get one. Besides, you wouldn't survive the operation." He scoffed.

"Why not?" I tilted my head at him feigning innocence.

"You have to go through unbearable pain, such that you'd wish to be dead instead." He replied instantly. Oh, Hiei you make things so easy for me.

I grinned at him. "So it _did_ hurt."

He looked at me surprised as he realized how I played him. "Smart-ass." I laughed at his comeback. It was weird somehow; he seemed in a good mood, he was talkative for being Hiei. Maybe I should offer him ice cream more often.

"Why did you get the Jagan? I mean, it's cool and all, but all the unbearable pain just to peep into people's minds…" I trailed off and he remained silent for a while as he stared at me.

"I was searching for something." He answered looking away.

"What?" I dared to ask; though I had the feeling he wouldn't answer.

"None of your business." He replied dryly.

We fell silent again. After some minutes, I dared another question. "Did you find it?" There was another silence and I thought that that was the end of our conversation. I was about to return to my meditation, but then he answered.

"Yes." His voice sounded content and I could even spot a smile, a genuine smile, though it was small. I always tried to imagine him smiling as a normal person, but it was hard, and Enma… he was even more handsome with just that half smile. How would an actual smile look like on his face?

I stared at him for a bit. He was sitting as he always sat; a leg bent with an arm resting on it. He had this stoic and clam air around him and I found myself admiring him, as if he was some Greek statue. He probably felt my eyes on him as he turned to face me after some time.

"Take a picture, it will last longer." He said in a bored tone. I snapped out of my trance and blinked at him.

"And they say you have no sense of humor." I grinned and he gave me half a smile. Today was a good day I concluded. Something bad was about to happen, it's always like this when too many good things happen.

"You said something interesting before…" I started, wanting to talk a bit more. I was going to make use of his good mood to the fullest. "You said you can read and control minds… Did you ever tried to read mine?" I was curious. What if he did? What if he actually read my nasty thoughts about him when we first met?

I watched him as he stared at me, as if he was trying to read my thoughts… yeah.

"I did." He admitted and suddenly I felt awkward and didn't know what to say. I remained silent for a while and he didn't speak either. Then it hit me. I never gave him permission to read my thoughts. My thoughts were supposed to be mine and mine alone and there were weird things in my head.

"Why did you do that?" I almost yelled at him. The more I thought about it the angrier I became. There were things in my mind that he wasn't supposed to know, things that no one was supposed to know. Things that I didn't want them to know. Things I wanted to forget myself.

"Calm down." He said looking away from me. "I said I tried, never said I managed to." The last part sounded as if he was irritated by the fact. He tried, but he didn't succeed.

"Why?" I was dumbfounded and my anger disappeared quickly.

He sighed and looked back at me. "You have a barrier in your mind that is blocking me." He explained. "It's rather annoying."

I tilted my head at him, confused. I had a barrier? I never knew I had a barrier, but I guess things were better that way. If I had a barrier then it meant that my thoughts were safe.

"You just thought your thoughts were safe with the barrier." He said narrowing his eyes and I didn't feel so safe anymore. He smirked noticing my panic. "It's written all over your face."

I frowned at him. He was teasing me, the bastard. I was about to say something back, but I didn't have the chance as a sweet voice interrupted me.

"Do you two care for a little breakfast?" Yukina spoke from behind us. We both looked at her as she smiled warmly, I couldn't get enough of her smiles, I loved them.

"We would love it." I said getting up.

" _We?_ " Hiei questioned my choice of words.

"Yeah, aren't you hungry? You spent the night outside training, didn't you?" I think he was about to ask how I knew that. "I didn't sense you in your room last night… like most nights, and your smell gave the training out." I explained and he cocked a brow at me. "I have a good nose and you're sweaty. Take a shower before breakfast. I'll help Yukina with the preparations, don't ditch us." I told him while leaving and dragging Yukina with me, I didn't want to give him any space to counter.

\- \ -

"You two sure get along." Yukina said while cooking some eggs and bacon. We decided to have western style breakfast for a change. I was making Nutella pancakes.

"You mean Grumpy-kun and me?" She nodded frowning a bit at the nickname. I shrugged at her. "I don't know. I have more the feeling I'm forcing myself on him, since he never takes the first step in a conversation. Though he does when it's time to turn me into pulp."

"Hiei-san is a bit complicated, but he is a good person." She said sweetly. There was something I noticed during the days here, Yukina always spoke well of Hiei, and often scolded Kuwabara for talking ill of him. On the other hand, Hiei never glared at Yukina, nor he used harsh words with her, and I could tell it wasn't chivalry, since he didn't have the same manners with Botan, Keiko or me. Out of the three I was the one tread the worst, as he obviously liked me the least, so Yukina saying we got along sounded weird. I thought he got along better with Kuwabara than me, even though he said he hated him. But maybe I felt that way because I was new to the team and didn't know much about him.

"I know." I said after a while. "He threatens me all the time, but I know he wouldn't actually kill me. Heck, he said he will murder me so many times that I can't even take him seriously anymore, no matter how scary he sounds." I laughed placing the plate with pancakes on the table. I glanced at Yukina and tensed when I noticed her sad expression.

"Yuki-"

"Please don't give up on him." She said, her voice almost cracking, she being the second person, maybe third, telling me this. I felt my stomach twist in knots, making her upset was the last thing I wanted to do. I rushed to her and hugged her, attempting to comfort her, I wasn't sure how to do that since I never comforted anyone, but they did this a lot in movies and manga.

"I won't. I'm going to be his friend even if he doesn't want it." I said impulsively, though I then realized I might not be able to keep my word. But I decided to worry about it later. However, Yukina seemed to calm down as she returned my hug and chuckled. I looked at her confused, but she simply smiled at me not giving any explanation.

Shortly after, Hiei made his entry in the kitchen and stared at Yukina and me as we were still hugging. I looked at him and smiled widely extending an arm at him. "Do you want a hug, too?" I teased him, knowing too well what his answer will be.

He gave me blank stare. "I don't, but my sword could use some affection. I bet it would love to have a feel of you." I stared at him in shock, before smirking at him.

"I didn't think you were the type to make dirty jokes." I said, containing a laugh.

"Dirty jokes?" Yukina looked confused at me. Her innocence was out of this world… well, she was a demon, so she wasn't of this world exactly. "What do you mean with dirty jokes?"

"Ah, no. Nothing, nothing." I said quickly. Please, Yukina, just stay like this forever. "Anyway, let's eat."

And so we sat eating. "How long is Yusuke planning to sleep?" I muttered at some point. "We have training in a bit."

"You don't." Hiei sated grabbing another pancake. I noticed he was fond of them, as he practically ate only those.

"I don't?" I tilted my head at him. Was I getting a day off?

"Today you are only mine." He smirked at me with malice. I could only imagine the hell we wanted to put me through. Scratch the day off.

I smirked back. "What, you want a feel of me, too?" I teased him.

"I'll murder you." He spat as his face turned to stone.

"But then I'd have to come back to life and arrest you."

"Good luck on coming back."

"Yusuke did. Twice even."

"He's just a lucky fool. Do you think you are as lucky as him?" He raised a brow at me.

"Oh, please. I don't need luck when I have the skill. I already cheated death a dozen of times." I scoffed at him, and it was actually true. I did cheat death many times. He didn't say more, but he did give me a questioning look. I ignored him as I glanced at Yukina; she seemed happy as she ate some pancakes.

"These are delicious Hisa-san." She said smiling.

"You made these?" Hiei intervened indicating his plate full of pancakes; he had a displeased look on his face, as if he thought Yukina made them and only ate them because of that.

"Yes, I made those." I answered dryly. "Are you going to tell me that you hate them now, after you stuffed yourself with so many?" I was going to hit him if he did.

"Hn." And that was all. He didn't deny my accusations, nor confirmed them, still he finished what he had in his plate without another word.

Yukina and I continued to chat of small stuff as we finished eating and washed the dishes, we even saved Yusuke something for when he would wake up. Apparently, today he was returning home for a couple of days because he needed to help Keiko move to the temple for summer break. And he also promised her to go on a date. I wondered how Keiko could put up with a boyfriend like Yusuke. I liked him, but he wasn't good boyfriend material. But I guess it's fine if he loved her, and he really seemed to love her, you could see it in his eyes.

After breakfast came hell. Hiei put me through steel and fire, literally. His new idea of training was attacking me with his sword and shot fireballs at me. He didn't joke when he said he was going to show me hell. He didn't even concede me one break all day, no lunch, no water, no anything. He said that my body needed to meet a braking point to toughen itself. I heard that before, I did that before, but no matter how fast my body was adjusting itself to the training, I was out of shape and it was hard to keep up.

At sunset, I was having a hard time even seeing things as my vision was all blurry and my head was fuzzy. All my senses were having problems on their own, I had no idea how I was still conscious and I wondered how I would go back to the temple. I remembered that time he abandoned me in the clearing. I seriously hoped he would have some mercy this time and bring me back, even if he had to drag me by one foot. I was ok with it; I doubted I would feel any pain anyways.

"I'm impressed you are still conscious." He said and I barely heard him. I wanted to say back something cocky, but I couldn't, as speaking suddenly became a difficult and energy consuming task. "Hn. Who would have thought I would live the day you couldn't speak from exhaustion." He teased me. I really wanted to speak back, no matter the cost.

"Don't… celebrate… too… soon." I somehow managed to say and he shook his head at me.

"Fool." He said and I think I skipped a beat seeing him smile at me. That was the first time I saw him smile, like actually smile, not a half smile, not a small smile, but a smile. I was right on the waste of a handsome face with a permanent scowl. He was breathtaking when smiling.

The surprises continued as he bent down and picked me up from the ground, carrying me bridal style. I wasn't going to complain about being brought back, but I didn't expect him to carry me back, not like this at least. I don't know if it was due to the exhaustion or the shock at his gesture, but I couldn't even think of something to say as he walked back to Genkai's. I simply leaned against his chest, feeling how warm he was, fire demon thing, I thought. He didn't say a word on the way back and I allowed myself to fall asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – Hiei**

I was rather tired that day, probably because I didn't sleep in a while and trained all the time. The Makai Tournament was some months away and I was going to participate. I knew the others were entering too, but they seemed carefree about it. I wondered when Yusuke was going to start training; if he wasn't going to I would surely kick his ass if he were to fight me in the tournament. He spent a lot of time training the foolish woman, and I did too, but I kept training on my own, he didn't.

I didn't sleep in three days now, and it was starting to get at me. I thought I could use some sleep myself as I looked at the woman sleeping in my arms. Her sleeping face made me think about how I ended up in that situation.

Kurama was right, I was bored, and that was the reason I accepted to see Koenma and participate in their little mission. At first, I cursed myself for giving in to Kurama and help, the woman was boring, but I reconsidered it after she killed that demon. Mostly because I had no idea how she immobilized him and there was also that hypnosis thing. My interest died as soon as I learned about her ability and after hearing how human was her reason for accepting the job. I decided to go on with my original plan, that being leave.

I was thinking about it from some time. Border patrol was boring me to death and Mukuro did say I could leave if I wanted to, she would make it so no one complained about it, not even Enki. At first, I decided to stay, because I respected her and enjoyed her company, but I was beginning to crave for the days I traveled through the Makai freely. I eventually reached a point when I really wanted to leave and I was going to, but then Koenma's call arrived and, out of boredom, I went to see what he wanted. I was visiting more often the Ningenkai lately and I thought that that was going to be the last time I would be there, especially after the toddler revealed the mission. Like I was going to babysit a foolish human woman; but Kurama had to convince me into it.

I still wonder why I approached her that day in the park. I was resting on a tree nearby when I saw her sit there; I saw the others stalking her, too. I watched her for some time, and before I could understand why, I was in front of her. I went with the flow and attacked her; she didn't budge, for stupid reasons.

The day she moved at the temple, I was there simply to see Yukina one last time before my departure. I accepted to eat with them, since Yukina asked me and it would have been the last time I did so. Then I saw that the woman moved to my room, I wasn't going to accept something like that, even if I didn't spend much time there, even if was about to leave. So I confronted her about it and I even turned her jacket to ashes. I'm not going to lie about it, her shocked expression and disbelief amused me. I was satisfied with myself and I was going to enjoy some silence and peace, until she barged in my room again. I admit that the fact that she burned my cloak as payback and the spark I saw in her eyes as she did it intrigued me. I decided I would stick around for a bit more, to make her pay for my cloak.

After some beatings I gave her, I realized something. She was a fast learner, too fast even. She was quickly reaching Yusuke's level during the Dark Tournament. Her combat skills were evolving rapidly and that interested me. I never saw someone improve so fast, and I wondered how was that possible. At first, I assumed she was a natural, but it was still weird. I tried to search for the answer in her head, but she had a fucking barrier blocking me. And it was there _always_ , even in her sleep. She was probably putting it up unconsciously, since she was dumbfounded when I told her about it. She had a talent at annoying me. I thought that maybe I could force down the barrier, but it was too strong and breaking it would mean damage her brain, and she seemed to have enough problems as it was.

She was a rather persistent fellow as she tried to befriend me every time she had the opportunity, after almost a week I started to answer some questions, mostly because I thought I would get some answers for myself. Our conversations were poor however; still I talked to her more than I did with many. I noticed that sometimes I would let myself carried by her own peace and I would end up talking more than I intended, like that time on the porch when she asked about the Jagan.

She moved in my arms muttering something and I snapped out of my thoughts looking at her. She seemed in peace and soundly asleep. I observed her as she nuzzled against my chest and heard her say something in her sleep, a name. _Shiki._ I wondered who that was, but I shrugged it off quickly, I didn't care.

I brought the woman back to the temple, and handed her to Yukina, telling her to heal the idiot. I pushed her to her breaking point and she didn't break as I expected her to, she managed to stay conscious. However, I decided she earned herself some rest and it was time for Yukina to heal her, after I stopped her from doing so many times, pain is a great teacher.

\- \ -

They say time passes by faster when you are enjoying yourself, and it seemed that whoever said that was right. It's been a month already since Hisae moved to the temple, and now all the group was here, practically all the time. Hisae was making huge steps with her training. Kurama was helping her with her threads and she began using them while fighting Yusuke or me. I started training her to use blades, she had a dagger and she knew how to use it, but she never used it. I asked why and she said there was rarely the need for her to use a weapon. I could care less about her stupid reasons so we started sparring with blades, while I left the man-to-man combat to Yusuke and the fool.

I was enjoying myself, her improvements made me want to push her more and see how far she could get. I liked the spark in her eyes when we fought, it made her eyes seem more real, and I hated the void I would spot in her eyes from time to time. She enjoyed a good fight as I did and I started to see her in a different light. I even started enjoying her company, and would often walk back with her to the temple. We would usually talk at that time.

"Hiei." She called one day during a break. She started using my name at some point, and I did the same out of reflex.

"What?" I asked, as she didn't state her business right away. We were sitting on the grass eating chocolate muffins, as she called them. Turns out, she knew how to bake and cook, and, though I would never say it aloud, she was good at it.

"How is the Makai?" She asked looking at the sky. For some reason, I felt a note of sadness in her voice.

"Different." I said trying to describe it in one word. She gave me a questioning look and cocked a brow at me. I knew she didn't like my vague answers.

"Ok." She said after a while. "Now, elaborate a little."

I sighed. "Didn't you ask Kurama about it the other day?"

"You eavesdropped?" She scoffed.

"By chance." I smirked at her. To my shame, I caught myself often eavesdropping her conversations with the others, especially those with Yukina. They were getting along pretty well, Yukina was fond of Hisae and Hisae was fond of Yukina. It was probably the first time I didn't dislike someone being so close to my sister.

"I want to know how the Makai is from your point of view. It's what you consider home, right?" She pressed.

I remained silent for a bit. She was right, Makai was my home, and I considered it so. I liked the Makai, there was always a fight to win, something to kill, a new place to explore. That's why I wanted to leave Alaric and wonder around as I used to, I missed that life. Yet, I was in the Ningenkai having a snack with a human woman, and I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would.

"Maybe someday I'll show you." I said absentmindedly. "The Makai." I noticed her shocked expression and it took me a second to realize what I actually said. I just promised a human woman a trip with me in the Makai. Why?

"Really?" She asked in a whisper. I stared at her for a second, the look on her face was weird, happy and pained at the same time.

"Maybe." I looked away, not wanting to see her face anymore.

"Maybe." She whispered and I glanced at her. She was staring at her hands resting on her lap. Her hair was covering her face, so I couldn't see what expression was she making, but I could guess. Lately, she would look at her hands and wear a pained look, and I was sure she was wearing the same expression now.

\- \ -

Another day passed and I was in the usual clearing, fighting Hisae. We were working on her speed, so I was trying to explain her how to use her energy to speed her movements up. Yes, I was actually explaining something to her. The reason? She asked me how to become much faster and I explained it to her because I wanted to see how fast she would pick it up. As expected from her, she learned right away, but control came difficult. She understood how to use her energy to speed up, but she used too much of it, so it was proving useless in a fight. After a while, I decided to change method and made her sprint from side to side of the clearing. She slammed against the trees a lot; she even took one down with the impact. I couldn't help but laugh at her and she didn't like it. I saw her turn to me, and glare, and then she sprinted towards me. I was going to dodge her and make her hit another tree, but she used more energy than I expected and I didn't move in time. She slammed into me and we bumped heads.

"Ow!" She shouted holding her forehead and moaning in pain. "I think I got a concussion."

"You idiot!" My head hurt as well. "Why the hell is your head so hard?"

"You are one to talk. I feel like I hit a steel beam."

"You were supposed to stop before hitting me."

She looked at me. "I actually wanted to hit you." She admitted and I grabbed her face with a hand, crushing her skull. "Ow, ow, ow. Let go, let go." She whined. "I'll seriously get some brain damage."

"Your brain is already damaged."

"Then don't damage it further." I let go and frowned at her. "Sorry. But it was your fault for laughing at me."

"I'm not at fault for your clumsiness." She pouted, crossed her arms and looked away. "What are you? A five years brat?" She didn't answer and I shook my head at her behavior, she was so childish at times.

\- \ -

The next day, I was training her speed again. She had made some progress, but still slammed in some trees. She was practically getting bruises on her own; I didn't have to do anything. After five hours of practice, she was exhausted so we stopped for the day and went back. It was silent, too silent. It was weird, she wasn't speaking at all. She wouldn't shut up on the way back, usually, yet she was mute. I reflected on it for a bit, she seemed normal, so nothing indicated her odd behavior. Another odd thing was my worry over her silent form, I love silence, yet her silence worried me. I thought about confronting her about it, but we were already at the temple as I decided to say something about it.

I then felt stupid about worrying, as during dinner she was back to her usual talkative self, though she did space out sometimes. They were all chatting happily about something, I only picked up that Genkai was returning soon, and Hisae was excited to meet the hag. Yusuke complained about something and the fool was all over Yukina. I will murder him someday.

After dinner, Hisae went straight to bed and Kurama, who wanted to discuss with me about something, caught me. I smelled nuisance as we went outside to have some quiet.

"How is your training with Hisa going?" He asked.

"She decided to clear Genkai's lands." I answered with a half-smile recalling the last couple of days she's been at slamming down trees.

Kurama chuckled. "I see you are having fun."

"It's rather amusing seeing her fail."

"I meant fun in general. I've noticed you've become quite fond of her." He eyed me.

"Maybe."

He probably didn't expect that answer as he blinked at me in surprise. But it was true, I was taking a liking at the woman. She was interesting and didn't bore me, and I hated to be bored. She wasn't so bad for being a human. Heck, now it rarely occurred to me that she was a human.

"I didn't expect you to be so honest about it."

"Sparring with her kills my boredom. What's the point in lying to you?" The fox had way too many ways to get the truth out of someone. Lying to him was pointless; he would only pester me more and eventually get me say things I didn't want to say.

"I see you know me well." He said smiling. I did know him well. I considered Kurama my best friend, though I would never say it aloud, but I knew he knew, and that was enough. "But is it really just fighting her that you enjoy? She made huge progress, but I can't really think of her as an opponent you would consider worthy of so much attention." He was trying to get me somewhere else.

"True. She isn't strong enough to get me serious, yet."

"Yet? You think she can get much stronger?"

"I know she can."

Kurama gave me a surprised look. "And you are going to train her until she manages to get you serious? I never thought you wanted an apprentice, Hiei." He was amused by the idea of me wanting an apprentice, I didn't want one, and I didn't consider Hisae as one.

"I don't."

"Then?"  
"I believe you noticed it, too." I smirked at him. "The glow in her eyes when she fights."

Kurama nodded knowingly. "It's the same you and Yusuke have. She seems to enjoy herself."

"She is. She loves a good fight as I do."

"I see." He mused and suddenly I felt like I said too much. Damn fox.

"Is this all you wanted from me?" I asked, ready to leave.

"How long are you going to stick around?"

I raised a brow at him.

"I'm just curious. It's the first time you stay so long."

"I'll leave once summer break is over." I answered and somehow that fact annoyed me. Kurama smiled and could tell there was something else behind that smile, but I didn't want to know what. I would leave once Hisae was gone from the temple.

\- \ -

The next day, I was once again engrossed in my new routine. That being training on my own in the morning and training Hisae in the evening, until sunset. Yusuke also started training for the tournament and Kurama and the fool took him as an example. It was about time. Hisae had more time for herself during the day due to that so I figured she would be more active in the training, since Yusuke didn't tire her as much before handing her to me. However, my assumptions proved to be only assumptions. She was completely out of it and spacing out a lot. She wasn't focusing and that pissed me off. I was so generous to spend my precious time on her, yet she was wasting it. I started going harder on her, pushing her more, hitting harder, until I knocked her on the ground.

"Do you have any idea how many times I could have killed you by now?" I questioned her, pointing my sword at her when she didn't get up.

"Like a dozen?" She half laughed. She was still up for jokes and, though I started to like her ability to see a joke in everything, this time it angered me.

"Stop spacing out. You are wasting my time." I spat and turned away from her, getting ready to resume the spar. She got up and without another word charged me with her dagger. This time, focusing like she was supposed to.

\- \ -

The sun was setting, and we were heading back. Once again, she was silent and walking slowly, almost dragging herself back. I was few steps ahead of her and actually trying to go slow as not to leave her behind. Her behavior was getting on my nerves, and I didn't know why. I tried to understand why it bothered me so much, but nothing came out of it. I had no idea what has gotten into her the last few days, and I didn't like it. I couldn't look for an answer in her head and I was used to it, I never had a glimpse of her thoughts. But it never bothered me _this_ much, though not being able to read the thoughts of a simple human was irritating. Then again, she proved me she wasn't just any human, so I learned not to care much about her mind being a mystery to me. I didn't care to the point to do anything to get in her head. She was probably as simple minded as Yusuke or the fool. I never thought the day when I would find silence bothersome would come.

I glanced behind me at her. She was lost in her thoughts as she walked absentmindedly while she stared at her hands. It was something she did often lately, staring at her hands.

"Worried about your hands now?" I asked halting myself and turning to her. She didn't seem to hear me as she continued to walk until she bumped into me.

She looked up and gave me a confused look. "Why did you stop?" She really didn't hear me.

I stared at her and then took her right hand, observing her palm. There were some callus due to practice with the dagger. "If you are so concerned about how your hands look you should bandage them before practicing." I said tracing her palm with my thumb. She remained silent and I glanced at her, but I didn't manage to read the expression on her face.

"I see. I'll do that." She said after a while, but there was no emotion in her voice.

I frowned. "What's gotten into you lately?" She tilted her head at me. "You always space out and are awfully silent." She stared at me for a bit, and then lowered her head so I couldn't see her face.

"I thought you didn't like me talking so much." She said. "You always complain about me being noisy." She added looking up, a grin on her face; she was back to normal.

"Hn." I looked away and we fell silent again, standing there.

"Umm… How long do you plan on holding my hand?" She broke the silence and I looked at our hands for a second before letting go and starting walking.

"Hiei." She called while catching up. "Will you really show me the Makai some day?" She asked.

I glanced at her briefly before returning my eyes to the path. "Maybe."

She chuckled. "I'll race you back." She said before sprinting towards the temple. After a second of surprise, I was right after her.

\- \ -

The following couple of days, Hisae acted more like herself, at least during our training, and that was enough for me. I caught her zooning out sometimes, but it was during dinner, or other activities I wasn't concerned about. As long as she focused while fighting me, I didn't care about what she did outside of it. At least, that was what I told myself.

It was a rainy day when Genkai came back, so everyone was inside. I didn't want to get soaked outside, so I was staying in, too. I acknowledged the old hag with a nod when she looked at me. Everyone was happy to see her; Hisae was nervous. She introduced herself and thanked Genkai for her hospitality. Genkai simply told her not to sweat it and that she was informed of her situation by Koenma. Her next words after that were said in a whisper, for only Hisae to hear, but I didn't miss them.

 _"_ _This is a safe house for everyone, even runaways."_

I noticed Hisae tense at the sentence and spotted panic for a moment, but she covered it quickly and bowed to Genkai, before returning to the general commotion. I stared at her and then at Genkai, who had a stern look on her face. I was missing something.

\- \ -

That stormy night was one of the few I spent inside the temple, sleeping in my room. I would sleep there only when outside was raining. Sleeping on a bed was better than sleeping in a tree, but I enjoyed more the cool air and the silence of the forest outside to make a habit out of sleeping inside. In the Makai, I had to sleep inside more often, since Alaric was in permanent movement and it was a hassle to sleep out and then catch up with the fortress.

"Shut up!"

A scream woke me up and I immediately stood up looking around. I knew the voice, it came from the room next to mine and I understood Hisae was awake. I calmed down and opened the Jagan. I could sense her distress and heavy breathing; she probably had a nightmare.

"Fuck!" She spat and left the room.

After a while, I followed her. She sat outside on the porch looking at the cloudy sky, the rain stopped but you could still hear thunder and see lightning cracking across the sky. I slowly slid open the window of the living room, careful not to make a sound and leaped outside. Quickly, I jumped on a tree so I could watch her without being noticed.

"Shiki." She said. The name wasn't new to me. "What should I do?" She looked at her hands. "It's coming off."

"First, I think you have some things to explain."

I watched as Genkai stared down at a now shocked Hisae. She looked back at her hands for a second, before turning to Genkai with a determined look.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know, but I want this to stay a secret between us alone. I don't want the others to know." She said and Genkai remained in silence. "I don't think they would understand." She added in a whisper.

"Follow me." The old woman ordered and Hisae was fast on her feet walking away with Genkai. I watched them leave and I was about to follow them, but a look from Genkai stopped me. I cursed under my breath and leaned back against the trunk.

Hisae had a secret, something that she didn't want us to know. It bothered me, mostly because now I was sure that her secret was the reason for her spacing out and odd behavior, and it got in the way of our training. She was about to reveal her secret to Genkai, and Genkai alone.

I had to find a way to discover what she was hiding.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Shopping hell**

Hisa stretched as she sat up on her bed. She glanced outside and noticed the sun was up already. Looking at the watch on the desk, she noted it was already 7 a.m.

 _I overslept._

She got out of bed and changed from pajamas to a pair of jeans' shorts and a black tank top. She thought again about her talk with Genkai during the night. Falling asleep after telling the old psychic everything about her life and past resulted difficult. On one hand, she somehow felt better after talking about it with someone, as she felt the weight on her shoulders lessen; the weight of her secrets and past. On the other, she was anxious about someone knowing her true colors. She replayed in her head Genkai's words after she was done with her story.

 **{** _"_ _I understand why you are so afraid of telling the others the truth, and I cannot guarantee you that way they see you won't change once they know… but they trust you, and the least you could do to repay their trust is being honest with them. However, this is up to you. I will keep your secret, as you asked me, but I will still have to tell Koenma something about you. He did ask me to investigate on you. You can relax, I won't give him the details, but some explanation will be needed since you aren't even supposed to exist. This means he'll come to know about your hidden powers."_ **}**

Hisa had to face the reality. The reason why Genkai was away from the temple was because Koenma asked her to do some research on her abilities. Turns out her ability to create threads out of her energy was something typical of her people, her clan. She had no idea since she never lived with them. She was supposed to be dead; worse, she was supposed to be more than dead. Her soul was supposed to be obliterated and erased from existence, because she was the child of evil, a monster, a curse to her people. However, there she was, breathing and alive. Koenma suspected of her when he found out about the threads. Her clan was protective of their members, especially those with powers, so it was weird there was someone out of it. Genkai managed to find out some leads about Hisa, but there were many holes, so she confronted the girl herself.

 **{** _"_ _You are welcome to stay here for as long as you want. And if one day you decide you want to control your powers, you can come ask me, but don't expect me to be as soft as the dimwit and the others."_ **}**

Those were Genkai's last words for the night; then Hisa returned to her room trying to fall asleep again.

She went downstairs and she could hear a commotion coming from the living room. When she entered the room, she was confused. Everyone was there, discussing about something, and they seemed dressed to go somewhere.

"What's with the ruckus?" She asked making her presence known.

"Hisa-chan, you are finally awake!" Botan chimed turning to face the brunette.

"Yeah… Sorry, I overslept."

"Now that you are awake we can go." Keiko stated and Yusuke rolled his eyes. He had an extremely bored and annoyed look on his face.

"Go where?" Hisa asked blinking at them. She didn't recall any trips for the day.

"What do you mean where?" Botan squealed a bit too loud for Hisa's ears.

"Would it kill you to stop bothering my ears with your banshee shriek?" Hiei growled from his spot on the windowsill. His face was a mix of annoyance, anger, and disgust.

"That's rude!" The ferry girl yelled.

"Your voice is rude." Hiei retorted.

"Now, now. Calm down you two." Kurama tried to cool them. Hiei looked away and Botan crossed her arms with an 'hmph'.

"Anyway, we talked about it yesterday during dinner. Did you forget?" Keiko said looking at Hisa, who was dumbfounded.

"Really, now! Were you and Hiei even listening to us?" Botan questioned the brunette.

"No." The fire demon's reply came immediately. Hisa glanced at him and then around the room searching for hints about what she missed.

"I might have missed that one." She admitted in a whisper, as she didn't find any helpful clues.

"We were planning a trip to the beach this afternoon." Yukina spoke up.

"I remember that." Hisa lightened up.

"Then you remember you don't have a swimsuit and that we decided go to the city to shop for some." Botan said narrowing her eyes at Hisa.

"Oh." Her lips formed a small circle, immediately giving away that she didn't remember.

"Well, this explains how we got her to agree so easily." Shizuru stated.

"So now we are all going to shop for swimsuits?" Hisa asked looking at the group.

"Exactly. We decided we needed a new swimsuit." Botan indicated the girls. "And the boys need one too."

"I don't!" Yusuke yelled suddenly. "I'm fine with some shorts or whatever."

"No, you're not!" Keiko retorted.

Hisa blinked at them and then something struck her. "Ok. I get how I got myself into this, but how the hell did you manage to convince _Hiei_ into this? Because judging from his face he is coming with us." She pointed at the grumpy demon, who growled in response.

"Genkai did." Kurama answered her.

"I really need her to teach me that." Hisa said staring at Hiei.

"How long are you dimwits planning on going on with the ruckus?" The old psychic scolded them entering the room from the porch. "Get out already!"

\- \ -

"So, we meet at the café of the station in four hours." Keiko announced. The plan was that boys and girls would go separate ways to shop. Coming back without a swimsuit was out of the question.

"Is it really ok to separate?"

"What, Kuwabara, you want to go shopping with them?"

"I'm just worried for Yukina-san, Urameshi! What if some punk gets near her?"

"Don't worry. I can take care of that." Shizuru said blowing some smoke out.

"If anyone tries to make a move on her I can rip their heads off." Hisa added with a serious face giving him a thumb up. The ginger blinked at her, unsure if he was supposed to worry or be happy about it.

"Don't say it as you would actually do it!" Botan yelled in her ears. "You spend way too much time with Hiei." She let her head hung in a defeated manner.

"That hardly has anything to do with it." Hisa told her. "I can't allow any lecherous bastard touch Yukina."

"That's why she said you spend too much time with Hiei." Yusuke repeated grinning and looking back and forth Hisa and Hiei. She cocked a brow at the ex-detective and then glanced at Hiei, but the fire demon was looking away.

"You allow Kazuma to touch her."

"Hey, I'm not a lecherous bastard!"

"He's fine. Kuwabara is too chicken to make a serious move."

"I'm not!"

"What do you mean with 'making a move'?" Yukina tilted her head at Hisa with a curious expression. The girl laughed nervously.

"I'll tell you some other day." She tried to avoid the subject.

"Are we going yet?" Keiko's brows twitched at them, showing how her patience was growing thin. The group looked at her and decided it would be a good idea to get going before she lost her temper.

\- \ -

"What do you think?" Keiko asked Hisa and Yukina showing them her swimsuit. She was wearing a strapless one piece with a floral pattern in shades of pink.

"It looks good on you." Yukina complimented.

"I would go with the strapped version. What if Yusuke gets some weird ideas and…" Hisa trailed off letting Keiko complete the sentence in her head.

"You do have a point." Keiko sighed after musing over possible scenarios that would end with Yusuke's face beaten up.

"What about us?" Botan chimed in wearing a yellow bikini. Shizuru was beside her in a similar attire, but hers was green and the top was strapless. Hisa gave them a thumb up.

"They suit you." Yukina said in a sweet voice.

"Then it's your turn." Shizuru told the two. Hisa and Yukina got up from their seats and looked at each other.

"I don't really know what I should pick." The ice maiden admitted looking around and glancing at the swimsuits.

"Leave that to me." Botan winked at her and Hisa felt a chill run up her spine. She didn't know why however.

Some minutes later, Yukina and Hisa were standing in front of the three wearing Botan's picks.

"You have to be kidding me." Hisa scowled.

"Why? You look so cute in that." Botan questioned looking at the pink two-piece. It wasn't only pink, it had frills and flowers on it and Hisa was about to throw up when she saw herself in it.

"It's _pink_. I hate pink. I hate frills. I look stupid in this." She spat. "And why the hell is Yukina wearing a bikini?"

"I don't think this is alright." Yukina said softly trying to cover herself. She wasn't used to show so much skin and the two piece blue bikini she was wearing wasn't helpful.

"I thought Kuwa-chan might get a nosebleed if she wore that." Botan admitted in a cat face.

"Hiei would kill you if he were to know you picked it." Shizuru spoke giving the ferry girl a knowingly look. Botan froze and laughed nervously, making Hisa frowned at them.

"Hisa-chan, what's that?" Keiko spoke up pointing at a scar on Hisa's right side. It was about three inches long and it looked like it was from a cut.

Hisa looked at the scar and mused on how she should answer. "Childhood."

"What kind of childhood did you have to get a scar form it?" Botan questioned observing the mark on her skin.

"I was a brat." The detective answered not wanting to give details about how she got that scar.

"I noticed it while I was healing you the time you trained all day with Hiei-san, but I couldn't heal it." Yukina said in an apologetic voice.

"Don't worry. I don't want this to disappear." Hisa reassured her. "It's a good memory." She gave a warm smile at the apparition. "Anyway, I'm not buying this and I'm not letting Yukina wear that." She changed the subject pointing at her and Yukina's swimsuit.

"Then try this." Shizuru passed them her picks. The two took the pieces of clothing and changed.

"How is it?" Yukina asked. She was more comfortable with the current outfit. It was a one piece with a floral pattern in white and light green, and Shizuru also gave her a long white sweatshirt in a light fabric with short sleeves, that she could zip if she wanted to.

"Perfect I'd say." Keiko clapped her hands and Botan agreed with a nod.

"Hisa-chan, are you done yet?" Botan called, and two seconds later Hisa came out of the changing room wearing crimson bikini with black stings. The top was a bandeau with a black ribbon in the middle and it had a black sting that went from side to side behind her neck. The bottoms were crimson and shaded towards black on the sides where the fabric was tied in ribbons.

"I like this one. Though I'm not a fan of ribbons." Hisa said looking at all the ribbons the bikini had. "But the color is awesome." She smiled at the girls waiting for their opinion. They simply stared at the petite girl blinking at her in silence. "What's wrong?"

Shizuru stood up and walked towards Hisa. "You look good." She said and untied the ribbon on Hisa's top. "I thought you may not like the ribbons. How about this?" She knotted the black fabric in the middle on the bandeau with a simple double knot and did the same on the bottoms.

Hisa observed herself in the mirror of the changing room and she liked what she saw. The bikini was nice, not too girly, but it did valorized her shapes. The color was perfect and looked good on her toned body, not like the pink one.

"Thanks Shizuru." Hisa gave her a grateful smile.

"It was a pleasure."

"Hisa-chan" Botan spoke up after all the weird silence. "You look…"

"Sexy." Yukina completed the ferry girl's sentence.

"Yeah…" Botan and Keiko muttered.

"Thanks." Hisa blushed a bit at their words. She looked around not managing to look at the girls in the eyes and noticed a clock on a wall of the store. "Well, that was faster than I expected." She said in a happy tone. "It only took an hour. Looks like we have some spare time. The boys worried for nothing. Maybe I could still train a bit with Hiei before going to the beach." She looked back at the girls and immediately froze as she noticed Keiko and Botan's expressions. They stared at Hisa with ominous looks and she could swear that she saw something black coming out of them. She took a step back suddenly worried for her life. She had no idea she just stepped on a mine.

\- \ -

"What's taking them so long?" Hiei growled tapping his finger on the table at the café they were sitting at. They were done in less than one hour, and they had to kill the rest of the time wondering around aimlessly. Then, Yusuke and Kuwabara wanted to go to the arcade and he refused to go with them, so he and Kurama decided to head to the bar before them. He sat there for two hours already and his patience was running short. The girls were late, even after they gave them four hours to shop. He didn't understand how shopping for something as simple as a swimsuit could take them so long.

"You obviously don't know a thing about women." Yusuke stated from his chair with a bored expression. "They live for shopping. Once they start, there's no way to stop them. I bet they brought much more than just a swimsuit."

"That's rude! We don't live for shopping!" Botan chimed slamming her bags on the table.

"Finally! I was rooting here!" Yusuke stood up.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to look nice for you." Keiko scowled at him and he rolled his eyes.

"You would look nice even with a rag on." He said making Keiko blush at the sudden compliment.

"Where's Hisae?" Hiei asked not seeing her.

"Well…" Botan began glancing at the entrance. Shizuru and Yukina entered the café dragging Hisa, at least what was left of Hisa. They walked to the table and sat her on an unoccupied chair.

"What happened to her?" Kuwabara yelled in shock. She was pale and her eyes were lifeless.

"This is…" Yusuke swallowed understanding what happened to the poor girl.

"I think we went a bit overboard." Yukina said softly.

Hiei stared at his sister and then at Hisae. She was totally worn out and he wondered what the hell they did to her. He watched her as she slowly raised a hand and grabbed his shirt; he was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans with rolled up ends that Yusuke lend him to go out. Hisa moved her head to look at the fire demon and he looked back at her.

"Next… time… I agree… to go… shopping… with… them…" She spoke slowly. "Kill me." She tugged his shirt.

Hiei sighed at her and flickered her forehead with a finger. "Fool."

"Hisa, here. Drink some water." Kurama offered her and she took the glass from his hands gratefully.

"Don't you think you are overreacting a bit?" Botan asked crossing her arms.

"Who's overreacting? That was worse than hell! Did you plan to kill me? I would rather have Hiei train me for three days without a break than go through that again." Hisa suddenly regained some life as she stood up and yelled at the ferry girl.

"Careful with your words, Hisae. I might consider your idea." Hiei smirked at her. Hisa glanced at him and fell back on her chair.

"So did you at least get what you needed?" Kurama dared to ask.

"Yeah." Hisa muttered. "Along with various skirts and dresses and new underwear and stuff I doubt I will ever wear."

"That's because you barely have anything besides shorts, leggings and t-shirts." Botan retorted.

"Besides, don't you think that this new outfit suits her?" Keiko asked the group indicating the white short-sleeved blouse and the blue navy skirt with a dot pattern. The blouse had a big ribbon on the front and she was wearing a high waist large leather belt.

"Now that you mention it…" Yusuke observed Hisa. "She does look _cute_."

"Yep, it does suit you." Kuwabara added.

"I know, right?" Botan and Keiko said in unison.

"She looks beautiful, indeed." Kurama complimented and smiled at Hisa.

The brunette blushed and looked at her lap. The shopping was hell, but she liked the compliments. It was something new. She glanced at Hiei, who was staring at her.

"You look like you've been toyed with." He finally said and his word caused her a little pain. She wasn't expecting him to compliment her, but still…

"That's not nice Hiei!" Keiko scolded him.

"She's right shrimp! Hisa-chan is cute."

"Hn."

"I don't want to ruin the moment, but we have to go. The train leaves in five minutes." Shizuru announced pointing at her wristwatch.

They all turned at the woman and looked at the hour with slight horror, before hurrying to catch the train.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – A normal summer day**

After getting back to the temple, having some lunch and changing they were off to the beach.

"Finally!" Yusuke shouted as he saw the ocean. The next second, he dashed towards the water leaving his clothes behind with Kuwabara following him suit. Yusuke was wearing green swimming trunks and Kuwabara's were blue.

"Fifth graders." Keiko commented watching them dive.

The others walked to the sandy beach and placed their stuff down, laying out beach towels and sticking two beach umbrellas in the sand. Shortly after, Keiko, Botan and Yukina joined the two bathing in the ocean. Shizuru wanted and to take a walk, while Kurama, Hisa and Hiei sat on the towels. Kurama had blue navy swimming trunks while Hiei's were obviously black.

"Aren't you going to join them, Hisa?" Kurama asked looking at her. She was still wearing her clothes and was looking at the group having fun.

"Actually…" She hesitated. "I can't swim." She muttered letting her head hang down.

"You can't swim yet you came here?" Hiei questioned her, but she didn't answer, choosing to ignore his comment by looking away.

"You don't have to be embarrassed about it. Lot of people can't swim." Kurama said gently. "I could teach you if you want."

Hisa turned her head at the redhead instantly. "Really?" Kurama nodded. "I want to!" She shot up and began taking off her clothes; Kurama got on his feet too.

"Aren't you coming Hiei?" The fox asked his friend before leaving.

"What for? I believe you can manage her just fine." He replied as he closed his eyes intending to take a nap.

"I'm ready." Hisa chimed putting her hands on her hips. Kurama blinked at her, staring at her for some seconds. "What?"

"Ah, nothing. You look…" He trailed off glancing around. "Good." He said glancing at Hiei, who creeped one eye open and looked at Hisa, whom was blushing intensely. Kurama observed the fire demon and smirked at him when he returned his look. Hiei frowned at his friend and closed back his eye.

"Thanks." Hisa muttered before walking to the water, followed by Kurama.

As she approached the water, she heard Yusuke whistle at her and then the familiar sound of Keiko's slap across her boyfriend's face. She laughed at the scene and dipped in the cold water that made her shiver. It took her some minutes to adjust at the temperature, then Kurama proceeded explaining her the basics of floating and helping her swim freestyle stroke. As soon as Yusuke learned that she couldn't swim, he started mocking her, gaining other hits for Keiko and Botan. After an hour of practicing floating, Hisa could more or less "float" and "swim"… more or less. Hiei watched her making faces every time she tasted the salty water and smirked when a huge wave hit her pushing her underwater. Kurama promptly helped her up and made sure she was ok. She seemed fine, but something was off. Hiei narrowed his eyes at the soaked girl as she wrapped her arms around her chest and blushed. He noticed Kurama was embarrassed too, and then watched him get behind Hisae. It took him a moment to understand what were they doing, but he eventually figured it out. The wave unclasped Hisa's top and Kurama probably saw something he wasn't supposed to see, so he was now clasping back her bra. Then he saw the fox get out of water and walk towards the towels, as Hisa stayed back and joined Yusuke and the others playing ball. Hiei eyed the redhead as he toweled his damp red locks.

"I swear it was an accident." Kurama said sitting down.

"What are you talking about?" Hiei asked in a bored tone.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I don't see how that concerns me."

Kurama observed at him. "So it doesn't bother you I touched her breasts?"

"You did what?" His voice came out higher than he meant.

The fox blinked at him. "You mean you didn't notice?"

"Of course not." The fire demon growled.

"Oh." He looked away. "It was an accident however."

"I don't care."

Kurama was about to ask what was he didn't care about. The fact he touched Hisa's breasts or that it was an accident. However, the girl's voice prevented him from doing so.

"Hiei!" She shouted and the apparition turned his eyes at the girl waving at him from the water. "Are you planning to grow roots there? Come play with us!" But her words fell on deaf ears as the demon closed his eyes, ignoring her. It was a miracle that he went to the beach with them, he wouldn't also _play_ with them.

A minute passed before he heard Yusuke and Hisa shout, "Super Splashing Kick!", delivering a whole load of water right on him, soaking him and the towel he was laying on.

He slowly opened his eyes and slowly stood up to glare at the two idiots now laughing at him. Kurama watched him as his aura shifted with anger and then looked at Yusuke and Hisa grinning like idiots at the now mad fire demon. He mentally said a prayer for the two unfortunate souls as Hiei bolted towards them. The fire apparition took care of Yusuke first, jumping before reaching the water and landing with one foot on his face, knocking him in the water. From Yusuke's face, he leaped towards Hisa – without letting a drop of water brush his skin – who was watching her partner in crime drown. For an instant, Kurama thought Hiei might do the same thing to Hisa, but he couldn't verify his hypothesis as another huge wave hit the two before Hiei could do anything. The fox gasped as he watched them being eaten by the ocean, but not long after he saw the two sit on the sand. Hiei had an annoyed look on his face while Hisa laughed at him; the others joined her soon and he couldn't refrain himself from laughing either. Then she stood up and offered a hand to Hiei, which he grabbed letting her help him up. The two walked back to the towels while talking about something.

Kurama observed them and a smile adorned his lips as he saw their interactions. It was probably the first time Hiei was so friendly with someone, and he remembered his friend admit that he was indeed fond of Hisa. Though Hiei said he was just enjoying fighting her, Kurama was sure that there was more to it. Even though Hiei was quite hostile to the petite girl in the beginning, he was warming up to her and that actually made Kurama want to tease him a little.

"I'm going to make you pay for this." Hiei scowled.

"I know, I know. Murder me in my sleep or something." Hisa laughed.

"That would be an easy way out."

"Oh, now I'm scared." She said with sarcasm putting her hands on her hips and rising a brow at him.

"Are you two ok?" Kurama asked once they were close enough. Hisa nodded while Hiei growled at him. The two sat down and Hiei flared his energy to dry himself up.

"Hey, that's unfair." Hisa said as she grabbed a towel to dry herself.

"Hn." He smirked in response.

She pouted at him, and then she chuckled reaching at him with a towel. "You have salt all over you." She used the towel to brush the salt off from his body and used her hand to remove some from his hair. Hiei stared at her as she cleaned him, letting her do it, and Kurama stared at the both of them with amusement. "Done." She said putting away the towel and reaching for the small fridge bag that they had brought with them. She took an ice cream and offered it to Hiei, who took it without a word. "Kurama, want some?" She offered one to him too.

"Thank you." He said as he accepted the fresh snack. Hisa took one for herself too and closed the bag.

They sat in silence and watched the others play. Yusuke was trying to convince Keiko to let him launch her for a dive, but she was refusing him with all her might. Botan was sunbathing while floating on a rubber donut. Shizuru was swimming not far from them and Kuwabara was lightly splashing Yukina with water, while the ice maiden giggled at him happily.

"If you stare so hard at her she'll figure you out, you know?" Hisa said as she glanced at Hiei, noticing his intense stare on Yukina.

Hiei turned at her, sure she was talking to him, and raised a brow in a questioning expression. "Figure what?"

"Your feelings for her." Hisa said taking a bite of her ice cream. Kurama chocked on his food and Hiei widened his eyes in shock.

"What nonsense are you babbling about?"

"Oh, come on. It's obvious you are in love with her. She's the only person you don't glare at or threaten. You hardly say no to anything she asks and you are always cautious with your words around her. You might as well write it on your forehead for everyone to read. You are lucky she didn't notice until now, probably because she is a bit dense when it comes to this kind of stuff."

"I think all the ocean water you drank spoiled your brain. I'm not in love with Yukina. Don't be disgusting."

"Why are you-"

"Ehm, Hisa." Kurama interrupted her placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's not like that. I can guarantee it."

"Really?" She asked rising an eyebrow at the fox.

"Yes. Actually…" He hesitated looking at Hiei, but he didn't say a thing, only looked back.

 _"Don't look at me."_ Hiei said in his friend's head.

 _"Are you sure you want her to misunderstand?"_

 _"I don't care what she thinks."_

 _"So it's fine if one day she confronts Yukina about it."_

 _"Don't you dare tell her, Kurama."_

 _"She'll find out sooner or later."_

 _"I don't think so. The fool still doesn't know."_

 _"She's not stupid Hiei."_

 _"She's stupid enough to make ridiculous assumptions."_

 _"But she does have a point. Looking at it without knowing the truth can make you misunderstand."_

 _"I told you I don't care."_

 _"I'm doing it for your own good, Hiei."_

 _"Kurama!"_

"She's his sister." Kurama spoke quickly before Hiei could stop him. Hisa stared at him for some seconds, elaborating what she just heard. Putting the pieces together. She remembered Kuwabara saying that Yukina has a twin brother, but she didn't know him since they were separated at birth. Yukina was looking for her brother, but she didn't succeed until now. As the words sunk into her brain her eyes widened in shock.

"What?!" She shouted and immediately Kurama put a hand over her mouth silencing her and preventing her to say more.

"Hisae." Hiei growled and she glanced at him. "If you tell Yukina, rest assured I'm going to kill you, bring you back and kill you again." He was glaring at her and she could tell he wasn't joking.

"Hey, what happened?" Yusuke inquired jogging towards them.

"Ah, nothing, nothing." Kurama brushed him off releasing Hisa. Yusuke cocked a brow at them, but Hiei was avoiding his eyes, Hisa was looking at the fire demon and Kurama was trying to convince him everything was ok.

"Ok." He slowly spoke after a while. "Wanna play some beach volleyball?" He asked them pointing his thumb behind him at the others deciding teams. Kurama glanced at the two sitting next to him and decided they needed some time alone.

"Ok." He stood up.

"You two?"

Hiei gave him a look that clearly said 'no', while Hisa shook her head. "I'm bit tired from before. I'll just sit here and enjoy the sun." Yusuke shrugged and walked back to the others followed by Kurama.

She watched them leave and then decided to put on some sunscreen since the one she put on before leaving the temple was probably washed off by the water already. They sat in silence as Hiei laid on his back with closed eyes and Hisa was rubbing cream on her skin. After she was done with arms, legs, abdomen, chest and face, she started struggling to get the cream on her back. The weird noises she was making made Hiei open one eye and peek at her. He watched her contort and twist her arms attempting to get the sunscreen on her back, but she wasn't really making any progress.

"Aren't you graceful?" He teased.

Hisa turned her eyes at him, meeting his smirk. "You could help me." She suggested passing him the bottle of cream.

"And why would I?" He raised a brow at her.

"Because you don't want me to get a sunburnt?" She made a sweet face at him flapping her eyelashes. "Thing that could interfere with our training."

"I don't see how you getting a sunburnt would stop me from kicking your ass." He scoffed.

"Then what about this? You help me put the cream on and then we sneak out to spar a little." She grinned at him. Hiei smirked back and took the cream, placed himself behind her and started rubbing the sunscreen on her back. "Why don't you want Yukina to know?" Hisa asked in a small voice.

His hands stopped and he stared at her back for a bit. "At first it was because I thought she wouldn't be happy to have a criminal as a brother. Now it's more because she would probably hate me for hiding it from her for so many years." He almost whispered resuming his task.

"A criminal?" Hisa turned her head at him cocking a brow.

"I used to steal and kill on a daily basis. For fun."

She chuckled. "I can picture that." She looked back at the group and observed Yukina cheer from the sides of the court.

Hiei was genuinely surprised by her reaction to his confession. Or maybe lack of a normal reaction. He was pretty sure a human would judge him for his criminal past, not that he cared. However, reflecting on it, he found out that he would actually care if she were to judge him for what he was. Yet she didn't care, apparently. There was so much dark in his life that he wasn't sure that she would still be so carefree about it if he were to show it to her. Either way, he caught himself smiling at her reaction, thinking it was so like her, for some reason.

"Don't worry. I won't tell her."

He refocused on her back as she spoke again, her tone sounding contemplating as she gazed in the horizon.

"And why should I trust you?"

"First of all, you threatened me not to tell her. Second of all, I understand how you feel." She glanced back at him giving him a knowing look. Hiei raised a brow at her. "Fine, a secret for a secret." She sighed. "I have a little brother who doesn't know about me and I don't plan on ever telling him I'm his sister."

"Why?"

"Because he wouldn't be happy to have a sister like me." She muttered and Hiei gave her a look that asked for more elaboration. "Let's just say that my family and I aren't on good terms."

"I thought your parents were dead." He said, remembering the info they were given when they were assigned to spy her.

"My father is, my mother also in a certain sense." She whispered. Hiei observed her intently. Her voice turned sad when she mentioned her mother, and he wondered why. He figured it had something to do with what Hisa was hiding from them, but decided not press further since he understood it pained her to talk about it. He realized he didn't want her to be in pain, at least not emotional pain and he wondered why. He stared at her back, tracing her spine with a finger, stopping over the clasp of her top as he mused about the accident she had with Kurama. He caught himself being annoyed by it, as he was when he saw Kurama in the water helping her clasp back her top, as he was when Kurama told him what really happened. A low growl rose from his chest as he slid his finger under her top clasp.

"Hiei?" Hisa called turning her head around. He snapped out of his trance and stared at her realizing what he was doing. He closed his eyes and tugged the string, releasing it suddenly so it slapped her back. "Ow!" She yelped. "What was that for?"

"I'm done." He said moving besides her. _Just what in the nine hells was I about to do?_ He growled at himself.

"Thanks." Hisa said putting the cream away and glancing at the game her friends were carrying on. Apparently, they were at a decisive point as Keiko was preparing to serve and Yusuke shouted at her to give their adversaries a good one. Hisa peeked at Hiei and the two exchanged a knowingly look, standing up and disappearing quickly.

\- \ -

Hisa was panting heavily and sweat run down her forehead as she glanced around to follow Hiei's movements as he 'teleported' from place to place around her. She used the back of her hand to remove some sweat from her forehead and took a deep breath.

"Tired already?" Hiei taunted her continuing to run around her. She was indeed tired. It was hard to move on the sand and she was having problems tricking Hiei with her threads, since he was being warry against them. They were going at it from an hour already, but she was the only one on short breaths. She tried to think a new strategy, but to be effective she had to first stop Hiei from moving around so much. She glanced at the sand at her feet and smirked as an idea popped into her mind.

Hiei noticed it and decided to make a move himself attacking her from behind. Hisa managed to block his kick last moment and grabbed it, but Hiei twisted himself midair and kicked her away with his other leg. She slid on the sand, using a hand to stop herself, and pushed herself towards him with that hand. She aimed a fist at his stomach, but Hiei dodged her easily. However, she managed to touch his right leg before landing behind him. Hiei turned around ready to charge her, but he fell on his right knee and felt his leg numb. He looked at Hisa, who was smirking in triumph at him as she stretched her hands out and clenched her fists at her chest. Hiei noticed threads coming out from the sand like snakes, pointing him. He used a hand and his other leg to push himself out of the way and dodge, but the threads chased him as Hisa moved her fingers following him with her eyes. He smirked; this was something new, probably something she worked on with Kurama. He charged her again as he flared his energy to get rid of the threads coming at him. Hisa stood there waiting for him and she stretched one hand out shooting what looked like small rays of energy. He twisted midair avoiding the majority, but some connected with his other leg and his right arm and he felt his limbs go numb as his right leg. A thread managed to wrap itself around his right foot and Hisa quickly thrusted him on the ground as she moved away from his path. She chuckled at him and he noticed her eyes glow with excitement as her plan worked; he was practically paralyzed and she wrapped more treads around him, constricting him on the ground.

"Gotcha!" She grinned approaching him and looming over him with crossed arms. "My win."

"What did you do?" He asked.

"Hohoho!" She put her hands on her hips thrusting them to the side. She smirked at him and materialized a small ray of energy between her thumb and index. "This is an energy needle. Kurama thought it would be better to be able to move my threads more freely, so we came up with these." She explained as she created more. "I can attach my threads to them and control them better. I can also shoot them and use them to paralyze muscles. When it comes in contact with a muscle the energy from which the thread is made is released in the body sending a small shock and paralyzing the muscles. Kurama said that with practice and the right knowledge and skill I could paralyze the entire nervous system. The more precise the hit is, the more the effect lasts." She clarified in a triumphant tone.

Hiei smirked at her. "I see you didn't waste Kurama's time after all."

"Of course not." She pouted.

"But you let your guard down." He said as in an instant he freed himself from her threads and leaped towards her sitting on her stomach, pinning her on the ground. Hisa struggled under him, but he didn't budge. He was using his hands to block her from moving her fingers and control the threads. "Gotcha." He smirked.

"It's still my win." She retorted.

"Hardly."

"You're heavy." She complained and he moved sitting before her and letting her do the same. "I totally tricked you this time." She said once she sat on the sand with her legs crossed.

"Hn." He watched her as she smoothed her hair, getting the sand out of it. He trailed down with his eyes to her neck and collarbone as the grains of sand rolled down. He stared at her neck noticing how fragile it looked. He traveled further down to her breasts and he felt his blood boil starring at her chest. He had to admit that the swimsuit did make her look sexy. It was the first time he saw her so… naked and the thing was somehow affecting him.

"Now, what are you staring at?" Hisa crossed her arms under her breasts pushing them up buoyantly while wearing a smug expression and eyeing him.

Hiei peeled his eyes from her chest and looked away. "Nothing." Very convincing.

She chuckled at him and leaned in towards him putting a hand on his leg. "Really?" She teased in a seductive tone.

Hiei stared at her for a bit, before changing the subject. "How did you get that?" He pointed at the scar on her side.

Hisa looked at it and sat back. "Ah, this. I was a brat when I was little."

"You still are a brat." He scoffed.

"Am not. I'm a fully grown woman now." She stated.

" _Fully_ grown?" He raised a brow at her.

"Says the pervert who was staring at my boobs two seconds ago." She muttered.

"I was referring to your height, imbecile!" His voice was a bit louder than he meant it.

"Oh." She blinked. "Hey, you are short, too. Probably the shortest guy I ever met." She retorted. "And you didn't deny you were staring." She teased.

"I'll murder you in your sleep." He growled and she laughed in response.

"I wonder what the others are doing."

"Probably building sand castles or something." Hiei replied in a bored tone.

"Wanna go back?"

"You?"

"I don't know." Hiei gave her a questioning look and she continued. "I do know I want a bath."

"The water is that way." He pointed to the ocean few meters from them.

Hisa stood up and stretched her muscles. Then she grabbed Hiei's arm and tried to pull him up. "Come on."

He rose a brow at her. "And why would I accompany you?"

"Because I might drown if I go by myself."

"In that case I'll come to your funeral."

Her shoulders dropped. "Why do you have to kill the fun in everything?"

"Why do you have to be so persistent?"

"Because you won't do anything besides training if I don't nag you." She said pulling his arm again. "Besides, I don't want to go alone. I might seriously drown."

"And what do I get for going with you?"

She blinked at him and mused at her answer. "My eternal gratitude?" She tilted her head at him, but he gave her a blank stare. "I'll do anything you ask me to."

"Anything?"

"Anything within my possibilities."

Hiei smirked at her and stood up walking towards the water. Hisa looked at his back for a bit, suddenly regretting promising _anything_. She followed him in the water and again shivered at the change of temperature. Hiei cocked an eyebrow at her as she used her arms to warm herself up. After some minutes, she adjusted to the temperature and dove in further. Hiei stayed close in case she messed up, though she was doing well for a beginner who couldn't even float some hours before. He grabbed her pulling her to him as a big wave approached. He turned his back to the wave shielding her and pushed himself up following the wave's course.

"Thanks."

"Hn."

"I sure envy your fire demon nature." She said nuzzling against his chest. Hiei tensed and stared down at her. "I'm a cold blooded person." She muttered noticing the look she was getting. "I get cold easily." She shivered as a gush of wind caressed her shoulders. Hiei put his hands on her shoulders and she felt his hands getting warmer. "That's what I'm talking about." She almost moaned feeling the warmth envelop her like a blanket on a winter day by the fireplace. He felt his blood boil again as he observed the look of bliss on her face. Slowly he trailed down her side with his left hand and up to her neck with the right. Hisa watched at him with a curious look as he stopped with one hand on her hip and the other on her cheek.

"Hiei?" She whispered, but he just stared at in her eyes as if he was in trance. She returned his stare and dove in his crimson orbs, staring at each other. Slowly, they closed the distance between them, bodies touching and faces getting closer. Hisae put her hands on his chest and leaned in and he used his thumb to stroke her cheek. Eyes came closed as their lips connected in a kiss. It started softly, but it quickly became more passionate as they both became hungry for one another. Hiei bit her lower lip and she parted her lips letting him inside. They fought with their tongues as he pulled her closer wrapping his arm around her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. A wave loomed above them hitting them directly.

"What the hell?" Hisa coughed out some water. She looked at Hiei, who had a grumpy look on his face as his hair was dripping wet and stuck to his face. She chuckled a bit at him and began moving some hair away from his face. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He growled and looked at her. He felt his blood still rushing in his veins as he was still holding her. He had no idea why he kissed her, or why she kissed him back. He only knew that she looked beautiful in his arms and he wanted to kiss her. He still wanted to kiss her more, to feel her more.

"Wave!" Hisa shouted pulling him out of his thoughts. Instantly, he scooped her up and jumped out of the way landing on the sand. "Nice save." She said glancing behind him at the ocean as she hold onto him. She smiled at him and he returned the gesture, though it was smaller than hers was. Hisa's eyes widened slightly and she giggled to herself.

"They… They're hugging!" The two heard Kuwabara yell in a high pitched voice and Hisa looked up in front of her while Hiei turned his head right to see the group approaching. Kuwabara's words were followed by Yusuke's laughter. Hiei put Hisa down and waited for the others to catch up. She shivered as soon as she parted from the fire demon's warm body and as the wind hit her wet skin. Hiei noticed her getting goose bumps and put a hand on her shoulder making his energy flow and drying them both.

"Thanks." She said giving him a thankful smile.

"Hn." Hiei shrugged.

"When did you two get so close, eh?" Yusuke grinned, as he was just a meter away from them.

"Why were you hugging?" Kuwabara asked looking horrified back and forth the two.

"How come this is the first thing you ask?" Hisa cocked her brows at the ginger. "And we weren't hugging. Hiei just saved me from drowning." She lied not giving him any space to say more.

"Drowning?" Botan repeated tilting her head.

"Yeah, drowning. As in slow and horrible death, drowning." The brunette clarified.

"Are you alright?" Yukina neared her worried. Hisa nodded.

Meanwhile, Kurama was watching Hiei intently, but the fire demon didn't meet his eyes, fact that only made him suspect even more the truth of Hisa's words.

"Anyway, why did you two left?" Keiko questioned them.

Hiei ignored her and let Hisae answer all the questions. "Ah, sorry about that. I just wanted to show Hiei some new tricks."

"Yeah, _tricks._ I can imagine what _tricks_ you showed him." Yusuke teased wiggling his brows at her. Hisa narrowed her eyes at him and materialized some needles that she shot at him. The ex-detective froze and fell on the ground.

"Yusuke!" Keiko squealed.

"As I said _tricks_." Hisa repeated bending down to meet his face. "He's fine, Keiko. A couple of minutes and he'll be back on his feet."

"I hate you." Yusuke muttered.

She laughed at him. "Ooh. That's not true, you know you adore me." She joked standing up. "Damn, all this salt is making me itchy." She muttered rubbing her arms.

"We should go back." Yukina said looking at the sun slowly setting.

"Hiei." Hisa called him and he glanced at her. "There's a brownie leftover back at the temple. First who gets there eats it." She said and she immediately dashed to the temple. Hiei smirked and got ready to catch up with her.

"Wait a second, I want that brownie too." Yusuke whined, still knocked on the ground.

Hiei briefly glanced at him. "Guess you're out of luck, Yusuke." And he disappeared, too. The group watched him vanish and fell silent for a while.

"Those two… sure get along well." Botan muttered.

"I think so too." Yukina chimed happily. "It's nice seeing Hiei-san get along with someone so nicely. Hisa-san is a wonderful person." She smiled warmly.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – Nightmares**

 _Her hands were trembling and were covered in blood. She was staring at them trying to understand what was happening. Her eyes traveled furiously around getting in her surroundings, but everything was blurry as tears flowed from her eyes covering the place in a fog of fear and anxiousness. She heard a familiar voice call her, telling her to run, to hide, to save herself. She stared in front of her and spotted a figure standing before her, giving her his back. She attempted to take a step forward, but the voice stopped her, shouting again to run. She shook her head 'no' and yelled back at him, telling him she wasn't going to abandon him there, that they will run away together. He insisted, yet she didn't move, and they continued to argue. She felt her heart stop as she heard him scream in pain and saw him bleed and fall on his knees. She run besides him trying to stop the bleeding, but she was shoved away with force and she saw him take another hit, and another, and another, until his body hit the ground._

"Shiki!" Hisa sat up yelling and panting. She glanced around and noticed she was in her room at the temple. She tried to calm herself down and laid back on the mattress.

 _A dream. Another nightmare._

It was almost a week since she _re-_ started having nightmares. Every night they would disturb her sleep and hunt her like hungry beasts clawing her skin and reopening old scars. However, this was the first time she saw him die. Usually, the beast would interrupt the nightmare before Shiki could die. Yet this time he didn't appear. She closed her eyes and rested her right arm on her forehead.

 _Why now?_ She asked in her head.

 **You know why.** A voice rumbled through her head. She saw him appear, the beast that lately started talking to her, after years of silence. She felt his glowing eyes stare at her soul.

 _I don't._

 **You won't be able to block her for much longer.**

 _I know._

 **You have to free me. And face her.**

 _I can't. You know it._

 **Stop running away.**

 _I have to. I'm weak. I can't control either of you._

 **You are not weak. You are afraid.**

 _What's the difference?_

 **You have to face her.**

Hisa opened her eyes and stared at the celling. She brought her hands before her eyes and stared at them. "It's coming off, Shiki." She whispered in the purple glow of dawn entering through the window.

\- \ -

Hiei stared at the ceiling while he laid on the bed in his room at the temple. He decided to sleep inside again after they got back from the beach, and again he was woken up by Hisae's voice. She screamed that name, again. It bugged him. He wondered since when she started having nightmares. He rarely slept inside so he had no idea, though he guessed the nightmares started when she started to zone off.

Hisae was hiding something, something that was hunting her sleep. He cursed under his breath for not knowing what was in her head. He wanted answers, and after the episode at the beach, the need for answers increased. However, he knew she wouldn't say a word about it if he asked, and he knew he couldn't simply ask her about it. He was at a dead end. He needed patience to get the answers he wanted, one at time, but he was already running out of patience.

He closed his eyes, knowing he won't fall asleep again, and knowing neither Hisae will.

\- \ -

Hisa was sitting down at the coffee table in the living room solving math problems while tutoring Keiko and Kuwabara in English. She scribbled down some equations and wondered how the hell she ended up in that situation. She retraced her memories from that morning.

After she decided to get out of bed at 5 a.m. as usual, despite not sleeping much due to the nightmare she had, she headed downstairs for something to eat. Hiei joined her while she was making pancakes so they had breakfast together. Then he went training somewhere and Hisa half thought of going with him, since she didn't have much to do. Before she could follow him, she bumped in Genkai who wanted to have a word with her. The old woman told her she reported to Koenma about her situation, but the prince still wanted her as his detective. She was relieved to hear that, though Koenma probably still wanted her because he didn't know all the truth. Then Genkai told her she wanted to have a look at her abilities and that she would assist at her training with Yusuke. She had some free time before that, so she decided she could meditate a little before the fight, she wasn't doing it as much as she used to, since her control over her aura was much better and, as Kuwabara had told her, sensing energy became more easy.

After a few hours of meditation, she sparred with Yusuke. The ex-detective faced her without holding back much and she figured it was because of the little trick she pulled on him the day before; he was holding a grudge. They went at it until Genkai was satisfied and, though Yusuke was warry against her and her needles, she still managed to trick him. She mentally thanked Kurama for training how he trained her. He would always use tricks and traps during their training so she saw right through Yusuke's simple strategies.

Then she returned to the temple for something to drink and that was when she found Keiko and Kuwabara studying. From then on things escalated quickly. Keiko asked her if she didn't have any summer homework to take care of, and she lied saying 'no'. But Keiko knew better and forced her to do her homework. Hisa cursed herself for bringing homework with her at the temple. She remembered bringing school books with her as a distraction in case she got bored, but she never got bored so she never opened her homework or even thought about it. It's not like she hated studying, for her it was merely something to kill time with, her grades in school were good, she even ranked first in some exams, as she had a lot of time to kill. The reason she skipped school so much was because she didn't like her classmates and the looks she got from them. She was tired to deal with the bullying and their annoying laughter, so one day during her second year she started skipping.

While she was solving math problems Kuwabara asked Keiko something about his English exercises, but even Keiko was puzzled. Hisa took a look at it and solved it instantly. English, history and literature were her forte. She liked reading, and she read a lot of books and one day, out of boredom, she decided to read a novel in English. At first, it was hard, but after some months of practicing and reference books on English, she managed to read novels and carry conversations in English just fine. Of course, her improvement in the subject at school caused more bullying as everyone seemed to think she was just showing off. Their reaction made her seriously question her classmates' intelligence. She actually didn't give a damn about grades, she just did tests because she had to cover for all the skipping and she scored high because she knew the answers.

Her knowledge of those three subjects got her stuck with tutoring the two. Kuwabara was struggling with English and Literature, while Keiko had pronunciation problems; and Hisa still had to do her math homework or Keiko won't let her train with Kurama and Hiei in the afternoon. She tried to imagine Keiko telling Hiei homework was more important than training and all the scenarios ended up badly; she knew Kurama wouldn't mind her skipping training for studying.

Time passed slowly, but they eventually took a break for lunch, only half an hour though, then down on studying again. As she imagined, Kurama let her skip training and he even joined them, helping Hisa with math. As expected from Kurama, he was a great teacher even when it came to school. Hisa managed to solve the problems twice as fast, but she had to increase her rhythm after she noticed she was short on time. She tried hard to finish on time and get to the clearing to train with Hiei, without making him wait, but it was in vain.

"How long do you plan on making me wait?" A shirtless grumpy Hiei walked inside the room glaring at Hisa.

"Sorry, I'm almost done." She answered without taking off her eyes from her notebook as her hand wrote down equations at impressive speed. She knew she was late, she knew he was mad, she knew he would make her pay for wasting his time.

Hiei walked up to the table and looked at them and the books. "What are you doing?" He asked frowning at them.

"Can't you tell? Studying." Keiko stated. "But I don't expect you to understand since all you think about is fighting and training all day. You might not care, but Hisa-chan has to think about her future and education." And there she was lecturing a demon, lecturing _Hiei_ , about education.

"Hisae is a Spirit Detective now, she needs training. How will a stupid book save her life if she gets in trouble?" Hiei retorted and Hisa chuckled, still not looking away from her papers. It was the first time she heard him concerned with her safety, though he threatened to kill her on various occasions. Despite his harsh attitude, she knew he cared, at least a little.

"She has a future to think about. She is smart and she could go to university next year if she wants to. She can't be a Spirit Detective all her life."

"Actually, I do plan on being one all my life if Koenma doesn't fire me." Hisa finally spoke up as she finished her math problems.

"Are you serious?" Keiko questioned in disbelief and Hisa nodded. "But you could do so much more. Don't you want to go to university?"

"Nah. I'm already fed up with high school, and the only reason I hadn't dropped out yet is because I already paid for it."

"Then what will you do if Koenma does fire you?" Kuwabara asked curiously.

Hisa mused for a bit before answering. "Participate in the Makai Tournament, win and rule over the Makai." She shrugged.

Kurama laughed at her idea. "That would be indeed impressive."

"You'll need more training for that." Hiei pointed out smirking at her. Hisa smirked back and stood up, ready to leave.

"Wait a second!" Keiko almost yelled. "You have to check your answers."

"It's fine, Keiko. I'm sure they are all correct. I'm a genius after all." She winked at her before exiting the room leaving Keiko scowl at her. After half a minute, Hisa popped her head back in. "Hiei, are you coming?"

He smirked at her and in the blink of an eye he was next to her. "I'll race you." He said before vanishing.

"What the- That's not fair. Wait up!" She called as she dashed following him.

"I really can't understand what's so trilling about getting beaten up and sweaty. I can understand Yusuke and Hiei, since they're fighting maniacs, but Hisa-chan is a girl." Keiko mused still looking at the entrance.

"You never saw her fight, right?" Kurama asked her and she shook her head 'no'. "You should. I think you might understand why she is always so eager to train." He said remembering how Hisa looked when fighting.

\- \ -

"My win." Hiei declared; his sword was at Hisa's neck as he stood behind her. She slightly turned her head around to pout at him.

"Dammit." She muttered. "I thought I totally got you with that move." She crossed her arms frowning.

Hiei sheathed his sword and sat down with her. "You are one hundred years too early to fool me like that."

"What? Are you _that_ old, Hiei?" She teased him.

"More or less."

"Wait. For real?" She widened her eyes at him in disbelief. "Damn. You are an old man already. No wonder you're so grumpy."

"If I'm old then Kurama should be considered a fossil. He long passed one thousand years already."

"You're joking."

"I'm serious."

She blinked at him. "So practically, compared to him… you're a brat." She stated smirking at him and he grabbed her cheeks squeezing them. She giggled at him and he pinched one cheek. She glanced at him for a moment, then grabbed his hand and pulled it away leaning in and kissing him.

His eyes widened slightly at her gesture. He was planning to kiss her again, since he wanted more of her, but he didn't expect her to take the initiative. They didn't talk about the episode at the beach and Hisa acted as if it never happened, and he did the same. However, Hisae kissing him meant that she wanted him too, as he wanted her, and he was completely fine with that. She pulled back and looked at him. He saw her cheeks turn red and smirked, making her become even redder; he liked seeing her losing her composure. He reached his hand to her cheek and pulled her back in another kiss, tasting her lips. Hisa welcomed him warmly as she parted her lips for him to enter. He explored the inside or her mouth and slowly pushed her down on the grass. His hands caressed her hips and thighs feeling her smooth skin. She stroked the back of his head, entangling her fingers in his hair while the other hand pressed against his bare chest feeling his muscles. Hiei moved to kiss her neck as his hands traveled up under her shirt. A moan escaped her mouth as he bit a sensitive spot. The sound pleased him and he growled low against her skin, tasting more. He traced her collarbone with his tongue and started sucking on a spot at the base of her neck.

"Hiei." She whispered. "Don't leave any visible marks." He stopped and glanced at her briefly before returning to her skin. He pulled down the collar of her shirt and bit the skin, sucking on it. Once a red and purple mark formed, he bit it again and licked it before looking at Hisae. She looked back in a pout. "I told you not to leave marks."

" _Visible_ marks." He remembered her words with a smirk.

Her lips frowned and she looked at the hickey; true, she could cover it with clothes. "You sure put some effort in it." She muttered. "It looks more like a bruise than a hickey." She chuckled touching the dot.

Hiei took her hand and moved it away, pinning it on the ground as he kissed her again. She chuckled against his lips and touched his cheek with her free hand, deepening their kiss.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – A small tournament**

"Smash his butt, Hiei!" Hisa cheered from the sides.

"Hey, how come you're only cheering for him?" Yusuke complained, but his distraction caused him to miss a kick coming for his stomach. He spit some blood as he flied out of the ring and rolled on the ground.

"That's what you get for getting distracted." Hiei said standing at the edge of the improvised ring and looking down on Yusuke. Somehow, they decided to have a little training tournament that afternoon, so they prepared a little ring not far from the temple. It was pretty damaged now after Yusuke and Hiei's fight, as they didn't go easy on each other.

"That was pathetic, dimwit!" Genkai yelled at her apprentice, brows knit together accentuating her age wrinkles.

"Damn. That was just luck." Yusuke muttered spitting some blood and saliva. The rules were simple; they didn't want it to become too violent, so they decided that the one getting a ring out was the loser.

"Really, Urameshi, how could you lose to the shrimp?" Kuwabara shook his head at him with disappointment.

"Shut up, Kuwabara! You lost to a girl!" The other yelled back remembering the ginger how easily Hisa beat him.

"I can't get serious against a girl!"

"That's what you tell yourself to save your pride?" Hisa raised a brow at him in a smug expression.

"There you are!" They heard Botan shout, so they turned to look at her. The ferry girl ran towards them and the other girls were with her, too. "What are you doing?" She tilted her head at them. "When we got back to the temple no one was there." She said. The girls decided for a walk through Genkai's lands while the boys and Hisa trained.

"We decided to do a little tournament for fun." Kurama answered.

"Tournament?" Keiko asked.

"Yep, the one who gets a ring out loses." Hisa explained pointing at the ring. "Yusuke just lost to Hiei." She grinned.

"And Kuwabara to Hisa!" The ex-detective retorted.

"That's pathetic, little bro."

"Shut up! I have a code."

"A stupid code." Hiei said dryly. "Though I doubt you could have won even without your useless code."

"Ooh. Was that a compliment I heard, Hiei?" Hisa teased.

"Hn."

"That was a 'yes', am I right?"

"Stop running your mouth and get here already." He ordered making a gesture with his head.

"So bossy." She sighed and leaped on the ring.

"Wait. Hisa-chan is going against Hiei?" Keiko asked looking at the two getting ready.

"Yes and the winner has to fight me." Kurama replied.

"Don't go too hard on her, Hiei-san." Yukina said with a worried expression. Her words caught the two on the ring off guard and they both looked at the ice maiden.

"Yukina, I can handle him."

"Don't worry about her, she can handle it." They said practically at the same time.

"Don't worry, Yukina. She survived him until now, she can manage." Yusuke added.

"I know. But this is the first time I actually see them fight." The maiden spoke softly.

"Enough with the chit-chat. Just start already. I don't want to die from old age here." Genkai yelled and that was their signal for getting started. In an instant, they both disappeared only to reappear in front of one another as their fists connected. Their audience gasped and the two smirked at each other before jumping back and starting running around the ring.

"They are… so fast." Keiko muttered.

"Looks like Hisa is controlling her speed better now." Kurama commented as he saw the two collide in a flurry of blows.

"I had no idea Hisa-chan was so strong." Keiko said trying to see something of the action, but she was only able to see them when they stopped briefly to block a hit.

"Watch her closely, Keiko." Yusuke told her, and she slightly nodded, not looking away from the ring. They continued to exchange fists and kicks for a good while, none backing down and holding their ground. The group observed them intently as they carried on for something like ten minutes. Keiko continued to do her best to follow, but it was hard and tiring. However, she did notice something. As she fought and blocked Hiei's hits Hisa was smiling.

"This sure is taking some time. I should have brought snacks." Botan commented.

"Hey, quit kissing and get serious already!" Yusuke shouted from the sides.

"Kissing?" Yukina tilted her head. "Are they?" She blushed slightly looking at the fight. Nervous laughs came from them all while Kurama proceeded to explain the ice maiden it was just a figure of speech Yusuke used to say that they weren't fighting to win, but for fun.

Hiei aimed a kick at Hisae and she crouched to dodge it, sliding in the process and hitting his pivoting leg with her right foot. He lost his balance and landed on a hand pushing himself up as Hisa twisted, aiming a kick at his arm. He dodged, but, feeling a tug at his leg, he directed his attention to the girl. She was moving her left hand's fingers and he noticed a string of energy wrapping his leg. He flared his energy to get rid of it, but more threads came at him like snakes. He landed a few meters from Hisa and began running, avoiding the threads and charging her. He thought she was going to shoot needles at him so he got ready to avoid them, but then she started charging him too, instead. He smirked when they collided, clasping their hands together, they started to push one another. Hiei was of course stronger and was slowly pushing Hisa back, nearing the edge of the ring.

"This was a stupid move. You can't overpower me in physical strength. I thought you knew that already." He said, already sounding victorious and applying more force.

"Maybe." She retorted with a smirk as she crated threads from her feet to hold her in place. Hiei's smirk widened and he pushed harder while Hisa used her energy to contrast him.

"I wonder how long you can keep this up." He said, knowing well she wouldn't be able to stop him for much longer.

"I believe you know that already." She retorted, the smirk not leaving her lips.

"Indeed. I admit I'm disappointed in you. You practically gave up."

"Did I?" She asked and he saw her eyes flicker with that familiar spark he liked in her eyes. She was up to something and he knew it. He focused his energy and took a step forward, but she didn't budge. However, that was not his goal as he slipped his left leg behind her right leg while using force to lower her arms with his grip. He then put strength in his leg trying to make her lose balance and knock her on the ground.

"Guess Hiei is going to win this one." Yusuke commented looking at how things were unfolding. Hiei was clearly having the upper hand in the situation.

"Don't give up Hisa-chan!" Keiko's shout surprised everyone and they all turned to look at her with widened eyes. The brunette had a determined look in her eyes and she watched Hisa trying to contrast the fire demon. She wasn't a fan of fighting and all that stuff, but she understood something watching them, watching Hisa. There was something in her eyes she never saw, the way she observed Hiei's every move, the way her face lit up whenever she managed to block or dodge him or she scored a hit herself. Though to her it seemed painful, tiring and pointless, Hisa was enjoying herself, she seemed happy, she seemed much more alive than she usually was, as if she lived for that fight. She remembered Yusuke looked like that sometimes too while fighting, like when he fought Chu and Jin in the Dark Tournament. But her attention wasn't focused only on Hisa, she noticed Hiei was different, too. At least, different from the Hiei she usually saw. He actually seemed to have fun, 'he seemed satisfied when Hisa parried or dodged him. Even his smirk right now wasn't the usual evil smirk or the malicious smirk she saw many times, the one that gave her the chills, it was almost a smile, a normal smile.

"You can beat him!" She added after a few seconds, noticing how the girl was struggling. Keiko's cheering influenced the others too, and soon they were all cheering for Hisa, inciting her to fight back and kick Hiei in the butt.

"Looks like everyone is on my side on this." Hisa smirked at him.

"Hn. That won't change the result. I'm going to win this."

"Aren't you overconfident?"

"Hardly."  
"Well, I can't possibly disappoint my fans. So I'll have to steal this win from you. Hope you don't mind."

She stopped contrasting him and let herself be overpowered. Her sudden decision surprised Hiei as he was pushing her down, but the only thing she needed was to create herself a chance. A small one would be enough. After all, she only needed to get him out of the ring, she did much more during their training, so she could pull it off. Everyone thought she had lost the match, but when they expected her to hit the ground she swiftly shot her treads on the ground, pulling to get herself away from him. She gathered her energy and used it to twist herself. Putting a hand on Hiei's arm, she shot a needle efficiently escaping his hand coming for her. Hiei saw how more threads escaped from her body and gripping on the ring pulling her away from him and other threads coming at him. He used his other hand to support himself and jump out of the way, but Hisa was right after him. The instant her feet touched the ground she canalized her energy and pushed herself at him. As fast as lightening, she hit his chest with her palms midair and pushed him out of the ring still holding on him so he couldn't escape. The whole exchange lasted at most two seconds, but the guys managed to follow them. They both landed out of the ring in a cloud of dust and everyone went silent.

They waited for the dust to clear and then they saw Hiei laying on the ground with Hisa on top of him. Her hands on his chest and her knees on his legs, pinning him down.

"Tricky woman." Hiei said with annoyance as she was smiling at him widely.

"The rules are the rules, Hiei. Don't be a sore loser now." She retorted, her smile never fading.

"Hn."

"Wait a second. Does this mean they both lost and Kurama wins without fighting? That's not fair."

"Kuwabara is right. I'm not accepting this."

"Shut up, you dimwits! Watch carefully instead of jumping to conclusions." Genkai scolded them. The two watched carefully as they were told to, but they were dumbfounded as nothing caught their attention, all they saw was the two out of the ring, in the same position as before.

After a while, Kurama got tired of their stupidity and explained. "Hisa won." He declared and before someone could question him he continued. "Look carefully. She is not touching the ground, so technically she is not out of the ring." Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at the girl still standing on top of the grumpy fire demon and finally noticed that she, indeed, wasn't touching the ground, only Hiei. Before they could express their incredulity, lots voices filled the air as the girls applauded and congratulated Hisa for her win. Smiling, Hisa got off Hiei and offered him a hand to get up, which he surprisingly accepted. Yusuke broke into laughter and Kuwabara followed him swiftly.

"You lost to her too, Hiei!" The ex-detective pointed at him. "All that big talk to then lose to a girl."

Hiei glared at him while Hisa shook her head at Yusuke's behavior. "I could ring out you with less effort, so don't get too carried away." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"In your dreams maybe." He countered.

"Do I have to remember you how I kicked your butt the other day?" She smirked at him.

"That was a fluke!"

"Yeah, right."

"Quit it already! We still have a match to dispute." Genkai brought them back in order. Hisa glanced at Kurama and their eyes locked in an intense stare. They leaped on the ring getting ready and waiting for Genkai's start.

"I'll say this clearly. I have no intention on losing Hisa so I won't hold back."

"Bring it on. I don't intent to lose either. I want that prize no matter what."

"Begin!"

Kurama got his thorn-less whip ready and Hisa prepared her threads and needles. They engaged a long range battle keeping a distance and evaluating every move carefully.

"This is so different from the fight before." Keiko commented as she watched Hisa's serious expression.

"Tch." Hiei spat. "They're studying each other. Even though I told her not to catch Kurama's bad habit. She's thinking too much about it."

"She has to. Kurama is not an adversary she can beat with simple tricks like she beat you." Genkai said watching the two analyzing one another. Hiei glared at the old woman whom was implying he was stupid for getting tricked earlier. "Stop with that look. I'm just stating the obvious. Hisa is well balanced and she can adapt herself to the type of adversary she is facing. Or haven't you noticed that yet?" Hiei didn't answer as he turned his eyes back at the ring. Of course, he noticed how she adapted to the various situations in battle, it was one of the talents that got him interested in her.

"Who do you think will win this, Genkai?" Botan asked.

"Kurama, probably. He has far more experience than her."

"Experience didn't stop her to win against Hiei." Yusuke commented crossing his arms.

"True, but she won because she used the rules against him, and it was a one-time shot. She can't use the same trick again."

And as Genkai said Kurama won the match. After Hisa decided to engage a man-to-man battle, Kurama made his move and used his powers to grow vines around the ring, which, after good minutes of Hisa dodging their attacks, managed to grab her and throw her out of ring.

"Aw, man. So Kurama is the winner?" Yusuke said passing a hand through his hair. "I was actually cheering for tiny here."

"Dammit!" Hisa yelled still laying on the ground. "I really wanted the prize." She whined.

"I'm sorry." Kurama said as he approached her.

"Nah, it's fine. It was a fair win." She said sitting up and smiling at him. "Though I'll have to think of some other way now." She muttered as turning her eyes to Hiei whom was walking towards her. When he was in front of her, their eyes locked and they stared at each other for some seconds.

 _Did I imagine that?_ Hiei thought as his crimson orbs dove in her gray eyes. During their fight, when she leaped towards him to push him out of the right, he was sure he saw the color of her eyes change.

 _Teal. I'm sure I saw them turn teal for an instant._ But the more he stared in her gray eyes the less sure he was. Kurama watched their interaction with interest as the other approached the three.

"So what are you going to ask for Kurama? And _who_ are you going to ask?" Kuwabara asked looking at the redhead.

Kurama mused for a moment. "I haven't decided yet. I'll have to think carefully about it. I have time until Sunday, right?"

"Yeah… That's true."

"What are you two talking about?" Botan questioned impatiently.

"It's the prize we decided for the winner of this tournament. The winner can make any request to one of the losers." Yusuke explained. "Damn, I was going to make Hiei my servant for a day." He grumbled and his idea earned him a glare from said person.

Hisa laughed at his idea. "I didn't think about that one. I kinda regret not cheering for you."

"What were you going to ask?" Yusuke turned to her with a grin, happy that someone liked his idea.

"Not telling. It's pointless now. I would only dig my own grave if I say it."

"Really now." Yusuke bent leaning towards her face. "You can tell me, you know? Aren't we best buddies?"

"Cut it out. I'm not telling." She chuckled at him.

"Now I'm curious." Botan said staring intensely at the brunette.

"Too bad." Hisa gave her a wide smile.

"Well, then. Now that this is over, should we go back? Genkai already left." Shizuru blew some smoke out. "By the way, kid." She added looking at Hisa, who tilted her head at her. "You were pretty amazing before." She winked at her.

"Yeah…" Keiko whispered. "I never saw you enjoy yourself so much."

"Thanks Shizuru." Hisa muttered not expecting the compliments. "And Keiko… thanks for cheering for me. It made me happy." She blushed slightly as she scratched her cheek. Keiko smiled back and took a few steps towards her, intending to help her up, but before she could do so, Hiei extended a hand at Hisa.

"I believe you could use more training after your pathetic failure." He said firmly.

Hisa raised a brow at him observing his blank expression turn to a smirk as she grabbed his hand. "Yes, a little training will do me good." She said returning his smirk.

It was still early and they had time for some training, and lately she could actually call her fights with Hiei training, since he was actually explaining something from time to time. He corrected her stance, he taught her how to use her energy to speed up, he taught her many dirty tricks that one would use in a battle to gain advantage, especially those a man used against a woman to pin her down. That part of the training surprised her since she didn't expect him to care about what a man could do to her once he got her on the ground, but in the end she knew Hiei wasn't as uncaring as he proclaimed himself to be. After almost six weeks of knowing each other, he was finally accepting her as part of the group, and she was happy about that.

Then there was the other thing that they did lately after training, which was making out before going back to the temple. Both of them silently agreed not to tell anyone about it, and neither of them asked the other why they got in such a routine, a pleasant routine. Hisa did it because she wanted to and she assumed for Hiei was the same. That was enough for her and she didn't need anything else. After all, her time at the temple was running short, few days until she had to return home, until school started again, until her job as a Spirit Detective would start, until Hiei got back to Makai to train for the tournament and do his job patrolling the borders. She had no idea when Hiei would be back from Makai, _if,_ he was coming back at all. When she asked him weeks before he answered vaguely, and she didn't touch the subject again. She decided she would use the little time she had to make as many memories she could with him before returning to her boring life… well, maybe it won't be as boring as she now had an interesting job and interesting new friends.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 – Get some sleep**

It was a rainy day and her training got cancelled that day, since the inside training hall was being used by the guys. It was afternoon already, and after some morning spiritual exercises that were supposed to relax her after another night full of nightmares and dialogues with the entity inside her head, she decide to relax in a different way, that being _baking_. So currently, she was in the kitchen baking chocolate cakes. Yes, _cakes._ Because she was sure one wouldn't be enough for the hungry beasts her friends were, especially Yusuke and Kuwabara.

After she took out the third cake out of the oven, she started cleaning and slicing the cakes. There was a simple chocolate cake, a chocolate and peaches cake and a chocolate and pears cake, practically all her favorites. She figured she could do that since she was the one baking them. She placed the slices on various plates and brought them in the living room getting some drinks while she was at it, the guys could use a break from training, Keiko a break from studying, Yukina a break from chores and the rest a break from whatever they were doing. As she finished preparing everything she thought of going to call them eat, but then Kuwabara entered the room shouting 'cake' and was soon followed inside by Yusuke and Genkai. As the two men saw the snack, they immediately bolted towards the table to stuff themselves up as they muttered a 'thank you' to Hisa. She shook her head at went upstairs to call the girls. When she got back to the living room with Yukina, Kurama had joined them too, but there was no trace of Hiei and the cake was almost finished.

 _Figures._ She thought, having already predicted that outcome and saved some cake for Hiei and herself.

Instead of sitting with them, she went to the kitchen and took the plate with cake she hid carefully and a bottle of green tea with two glasses. She knew where to find the fire demon.

"Hey, there's more!" Yusuke shot up as he saw her hold the plate while she walked to the porch. Rushing over with the intention to grab the plate in her hands, he instead met Hisa's foot in his face as he got too close. "What the hell?"

"Back off. These are for Hiei. You already ate your share." She scolded.

"That many?" He whined as he counted six slices.

"There's my share, too. I didn't do all this work for nothing."

"Oh, come on. You can give me his share; I don't think he will eat it anyway."

"Not a chance." And with that she left the room leaving Yusuke whine about wanting more cake and Keiko scolding him for being a pig.

\- \ -

"Aren't you going back, Kurama?" Hiei questioned the redhead as Yusuke and Kuwabara were leaving for a break.

"I was hoping I could talk to you a little." The fox answered leaning against a wall.

"About what?"

"Hisa." He confessed in a serious tone.

"You sure are a lot interested in her."

Kurama chuckled. "Yes, I am, indeed. Jealous?"

"Why would I be?" Hiei narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"Why indeed?"

The fire demon sighed at his teasing tone. "Just say what you want from me already."

"I was wondering how much did you know about her." Hiei raised a brow at him signaling he had to be clearer. "I think she is hiding something from us. I was wondering if she told you something."

"If she is hiding something what makes you think she would come tell me about it?" Hiei wondered how much the fox knew about Hisae, and how he figured she was hiding something. He himself didn't know much about what her secret was, though he was confident he knew more than the others did.

Kurama shrugged. "You two seem really close."

"As close as she is with the rest of you." He said in a bored tone to mask the lie, he was sure Hisae didn't make out with them, but he wasn't going to tell the fox about the peculiar turn his relationship with the woman took.

"You just lied to me." Kurama smirked at him and Hiei cursed him in his mind.

"I don't know what she is hiding."

"So you noticed she is hiding something, too." Kurama said thoughtfully. More like noticing, he heard about it, but he wasn't going to tell the fox that Genkai knew the truth. If Hisa wanted to keep a secret from the group, he was going to respect her decision, everyone had secrets, he had many secrets. However, that didn't meant he wasn't going to investigate it.

"How did you notice?"

"She did something peculiar some days ago during our training." Kurama confessed. "Something that I'm sure she didn't learn from either of us."

"So? It's not like she had no training at all when she came here."

"Yes, but… I don't think she learned assassination techniques on her own. At least, it's highly improbable."

"Assassination techniques?"

"She managed to completely mask her presence, Hiei. And I'm not talking about hiding her energy or similar. She completely erased her presence… I was looking at her and it felt like she wasn't even there. You know it's not something one just learns over the night."

"And?"

"And when I confronted her about it she immediately tensed and avoided the subject. I think she didn't actually mean to do that, probably did it unconsciously."

Hiei mused for a minute and took in the information. She never did something like that during their training. "It's pointless to assume things and work our mind out on suppositions. If she doesn't want to talk about it, just leave her be, or insist. Whatever you choose it doesn't concern me."

Kurama cocked a brow at him. "Have you ever tried to read her mind, Hiei?"

He glanced at the redhead. "She has a barrier."

Kurama seemed surprised. "A barrier? Did you-"

"It's too strong to force it down, and it's always there. She is probably putting it up unconsciously since she was dumbfounded when I told her about it. If I try to break it I might kill her by accident." Hiei explained tiredly knowing what Kurama was about to ask.

"Oh…"

"Do you need anything else?"

"No, that would be all. I will take a break myself." He smiled at him as he made his way out.

\- \ -

Hisa opened the sliding door of the training hall with her foot while holding on the things she brought. As she entered, she spotted a Hiei jumping from place to place while swinging his katana and slicing the air.

"Hiei, I brought snacks. Take a break." She called at him and he stopped in the middle of the gigantic room looking at her. "I made cake." She grinned at him as she sat down and placed the plate on the floor along with the bottle of tea and glasses. He sheathed his sword and walked towards her, sitting across her. "Did you burn your shirt again?" She asked half smirking as he was again shirtless and she remembered that last time he said his shirt turned to ashes while he was experimenting something.

"No, it got destroyed when I blocked Yusuke's Spirit Gun." He answered.

She chuckled. "You must be spending a fortune in shirts if they get destroyed every time."

"Hn." He grabbed a slice of cake as Hisa poured them some tea.

"How's it going?" She asked offering him the glass. "Training I mean."

"Normal." He replied in a bored tone.

She raised a brow at him. "Ok… How's the cake?"

He glanced at her. "Edible."

"Who pissed in your milk this morning?" She crossed her arms, but he averted his eyes.

"If you have time to bake, you should use it to train." He said.

A frown formed of her face. "You know what? Baking helps me relax and if you have to complain so much about me using my time to bake, then you might as well not eat this. I had to kick Yusuke in the face to stop him from stealing your share because I know how much you like sweets, so you could at least show some gratitude."

Hiei looked at the four slices on the plate, feeling a little guilty, but keeping quiet. Hisa watched him intently waiting for a 'thank you', but she eventually gave up as she realized that wouldn't happen.

She sighed loudly. "Doesn't matter. Just eat already." She pouted and, after some minutes of silence, he took another slice.

"What are you doing after this?" He asked at some point.

She turned to him blinking and thinking about it for a bit. "I don't know. Maybe read or something. Keiko keeps bugging me about homework, so I could do that." She answered. "Or we could train a little if you want."

"No." He swallowed. "Get some sleep." He said eyeing her. She had terrible bags under her eyes and she looked tired. "You look horrible."

"I'm not tired."

"You are. Your eyes are red and you have dark circles under your eyes. You are an eyesore."

"And since when do you care about my beauty sleep?" She mocked with a smirk.

"Don't you try change the subject, Hisae. You won't be able to focus on your training if you don't rest." He countered.

"I don't want to sleep." She complained looking down.

He studied her for a moment before he continued. "Because of your nightmares?" He decided to ask and he noticed her tense and peek at him.

"How did-" Her voice trembled.

"You keep on waking me up with your screams. It's rather annoying." He stated. There was a moment of silence before she spoke up.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She clenched her fists in her lap.

"How long have you been having nightmares?" He asked without taking his eyes from her.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"You said you would do anything I ask the other day." He began and she looked up at him. "It's time you answer a few questions."

She smiled sadly. "You're not being fair." She paused for a minute or two before continuing. "About twelve days." She muttered. "Not every night though."

"What do you dream about?"

She tensed and held her breath for some seconds. "The death of a dear friend." She whispered. Hiei observed her carefully and he could hear the beating of her heart increase. He had imagined that that might be the case from the way she screamed that name, in pain and desperation.

"Shiki." He said.

She nodded. "Shiki was like family to me." She felt a knot forming in the throat and she tried to swallow it down, fighting the urge to cry. "I guess I miss him." She felt tears forming at the corner of her eyes and then a warm hand touching hers pulling the tears out, silently falling on her lap as they sat in silence listening to the rainfall outside.

\- \ -

Hiei laid on a branch with his back against the truck of the tree outside of his room at the temple. He looked through the window of Hisae's room, watching her sleep, controlling she wasn't having any nightmares. In his mind the image of the girl crying silently, of her shoulders trembling as she tried to not make any sounds, of the way she bit her bottom lip as tears wet her cheeks, of how cold her hand felt under his, everything was still vivid. He regretted it; he regretted asking her those questions, mostly because he did it out of annoyance. The talk with Kurama annoyed him, he wanted answers and his time in the human world was running short; it annoyed him.

 **You should stay longer if it bothers you.**

A voice echoed in his mind and he immediately sat up looking at his bandaged arm. He knew that voice, he used to hear it a lot when he was still trying to bind the dragon to him. However, the creature never spoke after the binding was done. So why now? He tried to contact him again, but he didn't answer. He cursed him in his mind and laid back against the truck. After a last glance at Hisae, he closed his eyes. He needed some sleep, too.


	15. Chapter 15

**A.N:** First of all I want to thank all those who read, fave and comment this story. I know I never reply back, but I always keep track of everything and I'm really gratefull for the feedback. It makes me continue this story even if it's been so long since I started it C:  
As anticipated from the first chapter, I changed the rating with this chapter since more adult topics are being added and things will take a more darker turn in a few chapters, so I feel it's important to state what you are dealing with.  
This being said, enjoy this long chapter! o/

* * *

 **Chapter 15 – Sleeping**

"Hiei." Hisa called as they made their way back to the temple after training and making out. He glanced at her signaling that he was listening to her so she could continue. "I'm going back home tomorrow morning." Her days at the temple were ending, that was her last day there. The next day was a Sunday and they all had to return home as summer break was ending and school and work restarted for them all.

"I know." He simply said.

"You are returning to Makai, too, right?" She asked.

"In two days."

"So you'll be still here tomorrow evening."

He eyed her and understood where the conversation was leading. "The answer is no." He said dryly.

She blinked at him. "I didn't even ask for anything yet!"

"I already know what you want to ask me. I heard the others plan the whole thing. I'm not coming."

"Oh, come on!" She whined. "Please?"

"No."

"But we won't see each other for who knows how long!"

He cocked a brow at her and smirked. "What? Are you going to miss me?"

"Of course I am." She said immediately. "You're the only one I won't be able to see once I'll start working as a Spirit Detective since you'll be in a whole other world."

He remained silent for a moment staring at her. "The answer is still no."

"Please, please, please."

"You're annoying."

"It's just a festival."

"It's full of humans."

"I'm a human, too."

"It's different. You are just _one_ human. There will be hundreds of them."

"It's not that big of a festival."

"I don't care. I'm not coming."

Hisa pouted and stopped in her tracks. She wasn't making any progress. She knew it would be difficult convincing him to come to the festival. They planned going when they went shopping for swimsuits. There was this small festival back in the city, and it was the last day of summer vacation, so they thought it would be a good way to have some fun before returning to the usual routine of school and work. She even brought a yukata for the occasion… well, the girls forced her to buy one since they would all wear one. When they decided to go to the festival, she already knew Hiei wouldn't come for anything in the world, but she didn't mind it much. However, she thought she could force him to come using the prize of the tournament, but she lost to Kurama, so she had no prize to use. She had to think of another way now, as she now really wanted him to come. But she couldn't think of anything good enough to bribe him, so she was facing a dead end.

"Stop sulking, I'm leaving you behind." He said looking at her as he took few steps forward, but she didn't move. Instead, she crossed her arms and pouted even more.

 **It's just for a few hours. Please her.** Hiei heard the dragon speak again and again he tried to get a grip of him, but the creature disappeared before he could reach him. His brows knitted into a frown as he thought about those words and all the cons of going to that festival.

"Fine." He said in a defeated tone.

Hisa looked up at him and her face lit with such happiness that Hiei thought it wasn't all that bad even if her smile was the only pro to that trip as she ran towards him, catching him in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll buy you all kind of sweets." She said happily.

"I get it, I get it. Now get off me." He said pulling her away by the shirt. Hisa chuckled at him as she noticed a small blush on his cheeks. Even though he was fine with kissing her, there were some times when he would blush for small things like a hug.

Instead of listening to him, she leaned in and kissed him briefly. "Look at the bright side." She said as she let go of him. "We could get some alone time." She winked at him before starting walking back while she hummed something to herself. He smirked and caught up with her. Of course, they would get some time alone, he would never have agreed if that wasn't the case. After all, she had to make it up for him since she forced him into having to deal with the damn humans.

\- \ -

"Let's get wasted!" Yusuke shouted holding high a can of beer. Promptly, Keiko's hand collided with his face sending him flying on the floor. Hisa shook her head at the scene wondering for the billionth time how was Keiko not a fighter in the team, her slap knocked out Yusuke so many times that she lost count of them.

"What are you saying?! I'm not letting you get drunk!" She yelled in his ears.

"Oh, come on! I worked hard until now and in two days I'm back to work. Let me have some fun." He whined holding his pained and red cheek.

"He does have a point, Keiko-chan." Shizuru told her as she drunk some beer herself. Keiko frowned and pondered for a while before letting out a loud sigh.

"Fine." She said defeated and Yusuke's face lit in a wide grin. "But only a few beers." She added with determination. Yusuke leaped from the floor to hug and kiss his girlfriend on the cheek, whom promptly blushed.

"They're so cute." Hisa commented from her spot on the couch while sipping from her tea.

"Indeed." Kurama was sitting next to her and reading a book.

"Now. Time for beer and videogames." Yusuke proclaimed. "Kuwabara get your ass here. I want to destroy you."

"In your dreams, Urameshi."

"What are you playing?" Hisa asked curiously, as Yusuke got the game ready.

"Demon's Lair. Do you know it?" Hisa nodded. "Wanna play?" Yusuke addressed her. "We could do a small tournament or something." He glanced around the room. "What about it, fox-boy?"

Kurama turned at him and mused for a bit. "Why not?" He finally said as he closed his book and paced it on the coffee table, making his way to sit on the floor with the two men.

Hisa stood up too, walking to them and sitting down. "Anyone else who wants to play?" She asked the girls, but they all shook their heads as they sat on the couch.

Yusuke prepared the game and Hisa got them some snacks and more beer. Then they decided the pairs. The first match was Yusuke versus Kuwabara, and Yusuke won by far. The second was Kurama versus Hisae and it was a tight match, but Hisa eventually won. The final match was Yusuke versus Hisa and, with much more ease than before, she won, actually one shooting Yusuke.

"What the hell?!" The ex-detective shouted at the top of his lungs. "How did you do that? You cheated. You must have cheated!" He protested.

"I didn't. That's just the finisher of this character." She explained.

"I never heard of such a finisher."

"That's because it's actually hard to use it."

"And you managed to use it? I can't believe you!"

"Stop being a sore loser. It's not my fault you suck at this."

"That's it! We are doing this again!" He declared, as he got ready for another match.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes and they started the rematch.

"A kid." Botan and Keiko commented as they watched them play again.

One, two, three, four… ten times. They did that rematch for ten times, and Hisa still won them all. After the tenth time she refused to play any more games and Yusuke was still throwing a tantrum over his losses.

"That's so accurate!" Hisa heard Botan's voice chip from the kitchen.

"What's accurate?" She asked as she entered the kitchen to see the girls were all three looking at a magazine on the kitchen's table.

"This test." Botan answered as she picked up the magazine and showed it to her. Hisa took it and read 'What type of guy you're dating' in bold letters. "Keiko got the exact description of Yusuke." The reaper laughed.

"Oh."

"So much for a reaction." The ferry girl frowned at Hisa's disinterested response.

The detective shrugged. "Sorry, I'm not really into this kind of stuff." She said as she went to the fridge to grab a can of beer.

"You mean boys?" Keiko asked. "Wait, what are you doing with that?" She pointed at the can.

"For Yusuke to cheer up." She laughed. "Don't worry, it's only the third." She added before Keiko could stop her. "And I meant I'm not into love tests and such. I _am_ interested in boys." She said as she left the kitchen to bring the beer to the mourning Yusuke.

"Hey, cheer up. You look like your cat died or something." Hisa said as she offered him the beer. Yusuke scowled and muttered something before grabbing the beer.

"Something died for sure." Hiei said from the couch. "His pride." He mocked as he saw the last matches between them. Currently, he was chewing on some muffins Yukina made for them.

Hisa chuckled as she sat between him and Kurama grabbing a muffin. "Don't rub it like that in his face." She giggled earning a glare from the poor victim.

"I'm definitely beating you next time."

"You said that nine times already, Urameshi. And you lost every single time." Kuwabara remind him as he sipped from his beer.

"Shut up!"

"How's the book?" Hisa turned to Kurama, who resumed his reading.

"Really good. You have interesting taste, Hisa." He said looking at her with a kind smile.

"There's a spin-off of this actually, which is much better in my opinion." She said glancing at the page the redhead was reading.

"Really? I'll have to read that, too."

"Hey, bookworms." Yusuke called. "What about a movie?"

"That's a wonderful idea! We could watch 'The moon over the lake'." Keiko chimed as she walked in the room with the other girls.

"No, thanks." Yusuke and Hisa said in unison.

"Hisa-chan, how can you be so anti-romance." Botan crossed her arms. "I get Yusuke, but you are a girl, you know? Shouldn't that be in your DNA?"

"Hey, don't get me wrong. I like love stories, _real_ love stories, and that movie it's far from real." She defended.

"So you saw it?" Yusuke inquired making a disgusted face at her; he probably saw it too, probably forced by Keiko.

"Yeah." She grimaced. "And I almost got diabetes from it." She made a face.

"You are overreacting." Keiko frowned. "It's a sweet movie."

"It's a sugary soap-opera." She retorted.

"I thought you liked sweets." Botan retorted and Hisa cocked her eyebrows at her.

"Then what about this?" Yusuke held up a DVD and Hisa flinched seeing the cover. A horror movie with some creepy looking old dolls on the cover…

"I'll go to sleep." She said standing up, but Hiei grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Are you scared of a movie, Hisae?" He teased her with a smirk. She tensed and looked down at her feet.

"I'm not fond of horror movies and… I have pediophobia." She muttered.

"You have what?" Yusuke's voice came out high-pitched.

"Fear of dolls, Urameshi." Kuwabara explained.

"And how do you know that, smartass?"

"I'm not as stupid as you!"

"What did you say?" And the two started arguing… until Keiko and Shizuru respectively slapped and kicked them in the face efficiently making them stop. Then a discussion on what movie they should watch started as Kurama continued to read his book, Hisa and Hiei ate muffins ignoring them, though Hiei kept on giving her mocking looks for being scared of dolls, Yukina watched them without knowing what to do and Shizuru drank some beer hitting Kuwabara from time to time. In the end, the discussion was between Yusuke, Keiko, Botan and Kuwabara.

"They aren't really getting anywhere." Yukina said as the argument prolonged. "It's getting late."

"Indeed." Kurama noted.

"Someone is already sleeping." Shizuru commented glancing at a certain brunette on the couch.

"Eh?" Kurama blinked at her and then looked at Hisa, who was hanging her head letting her hair cover her face. "When did she fall asleep?" He asked in disbelief.

"About ten minutes ago." The fire demon replied with a blank expression. He wondered how she could sleep with all the noise the others were making.

"It's impressive that she can sleep with all this noise." His twin voiced. "But I guess she was tired. She hadn't been sleeping well lately."

Kurama nodded and closed his book, placing it on the coffee table. "I'll bring her to bed." He said ready to stand and bring Hisa to her room, but before he could do so Hiei was on his feet with the girl in his arms and was already leaving upstairs. Kurama watched him with interest trying not to smirk at his friend's behavior, but Shizuru couldn't hold a chuckle, which was ignored by the fire demon.

"Possessive much." She commented once Hiei was gone.

"So it seems." Kurama chuckled. He said that on purpose, but he didn't expect Hiei to react like that.

"I think they look good together." Yukina said softly in a smile making the two turn to her and look at her in awe, as if she said something incredible.

\- \ -

Hiei walked carefully upstairs not wanting to wake the girl in his arms. This was the second time he carried her while she slept. The first being after he trained her to exhaustion. When he was in front of her room's door, he slowly used his right hand to open it, making Hisa lay against his chest. He then slipped inside closing the door with his foot and walking to her bed. Using a foot, he removed the blankets and placed her on the bed. She moved and moaned in her sleep reaching a hand to grab the fabric of his pants. Hiei looked at her surprised for a moment, before he tried to free himself from her grasp. He tried to be gentle and not to wake her up, but failed as she cracked her eyes open and glanced around tiredly.

"Hiei?" She moaned once she focused on him, though in her eyes he was somewhat blurry.

"Let go." He whispered. "And go back to sleep."

Hisa moved her eyes slowly to her hand clenching his pants and groaned sleepily. "Don't go." She muttered. "Stay."

He tensed at her words. Was she asking him to sleep with her or was he imaging things? He swallowed and shoved away the thought of getting in her bed. He took her hand and released himself from her grasp, sitting down on the floor and pulling the blanket over her. "Until you fall asleep." He said staring at her, she didn't seem exactly happy hearing that, and he was now confused.

"No." She whined in a pout. Her voice sounded tired, she seemed like she was about to fall asleep within seconds, yet she had to protest about something. She stretched her hand at him again, grabbing his shirt and tugging him towards her as she moved backwards on the bed, making space for him. "Sleep here." She mumbled as her cheeks turned pink.

Hiei could feel his eyes widen at what she just asked him to do. Unconsciously, he held his breath and kept on staring at her and she returned his stare. He was unsure on what to do. The woman with whom he usually made out asked him to sleep with her… his blood was currently rushing in his veins at incredible speed. It's not like he didn't ever contemplate the idea of getting in her bed, or getting her in his bed. After all, he did like to kiss and touch her and liked the way she responded to his touches and the way she felt or the way her scent got stronger whenever they got intimate.

It took him a while to figure out what her scent remembered him of, like weeks, but he figured it out the day she fell asleep in his arms while he carried her back. She smelled like a forest after a tempest. She had this fresh and wild fragrance about her that he liked. It actually suited her; it was so Hisae.

He didn't like rain, thing that he found Hisae was fond of, especially wild lightning and thunder tempests. He figured it out one day he saw her sitting on the porch watching lightning cracking across the sky, she said it calmed her down, especially the loud thunders. He thought it was weird that something so loud and disturbing could calm her down, but she didn't have his sensitive ears and she was a weird woman after all. Even though he didn't like rain, he liked what the rain left behind, the freshness of the air and the sharpness of the smells, and Hisae's scent was just like that. However, there was something more to her scent, something that no matter how hard he tried to figure it just eluded him. She had this peculiar note to her he couldn't put his finger on, it felt familiar yet foreign, sometimes he had the feeling he smelled it before but he just couldn't remember where.

Another tug on his shirt tore him out of his thoughts and he let the breath he was holding in, out. Hisae was looking at him with questioning eyes and he tried to ignore her as he pondered what to do about the situation at hand, since he was still puzzled. She was there, sleepy, barely staying awake, tugging on his shirt to get him in her bed. His body was screaming to him to quit with the brainstorming and just get in the damn bed, but he was trying to think carefully about it. He admitted to himself that he thought about having sex with her before, their making out session often got close to that point, but he always stopped before he indulged to instincts.

Hisae was beautiful, another thing he admitted to himself lately; she had beautiful face features, fair and soft skin and her body had nice curves, though modest, and was well toned, due to training. He also liked her personality, though he wasn't so fond of her tendency to play him with words and have a smartass comeback at whatever he said. Also, he disliked the way she managed to read him at times, thing that was more difficult for him since her mind was closed to him and he wasn't a such a great people reader as it seemed she was. But those were all things he overlooked with time and actually started to like about her. Those things made her Hisae, were part of her personality and, though he thought she was crazy in the beginning with the way she acted towards him, so brave and fearless, he started to like that, too. As it was now, there were few things he didn't like about her. She was beautiful, smart, funny, gentle, caring and strong. She had all he thought a woman should have to interest him, yet, though it rarely occurred to him, she was human. Hisae was _human_ , no matter how perfect she was, how much he enjoyed fighting her, how much he enjoyed her company and her touches, she was human. No matter how much his instinct yelled at him and drawn him in that direction, he wouldn't have sex with a human. That thought always stopped him from going too far, her humanity always occurred to him when he was about to give in and take her.

Sometimes he wondered what she thought about them going further. He kissed and touched her because he wanted, no romantic feelings involved, just a physical thing, and he assumed for her it was the same since she never confronted him about it and they silently agreed not to tell anyone about it. But he wasn't sure about it, and it didn't actually matter much since he was leaving soon.

"Hiei?" He focused his eyes back at her now frowning face, she looked sad.

He sighed lightly and stood up, pulled up the blanket and slipped inside the bed. He was overthinking things. Hisae was tired and barely awake, not to mention the fact her voice sounded innocent when she asked him to stay; she definitely didn't mean anything sexual about them sleeping together. He felt stupid realizing it and the fact actually calmed down his overly excited body. Once he was inside, he rolled on the side to face her. She was grinning at him happily and she looked like a child getting to sleep with her dad… the thought offended him somehow and then disgusted him. She got closer to him, snuggling against his chest and he rested an arm on her waist as the other was bent under his head.

"So warm." She moaned and he had to take a deep breath at the sound of her voice. No matter what his brain told him, his body kept on reacting on his own, tearing him in two. Sleeping with a woman should be a man's dream, so why was this turning in a nightmare for him? Fucking hormones. In an attempt to think about something else, he lowered his energy along with his body temperature to make her feel more comfortable, since he thought the heat was giving her problems.

"No." She whined and got him confused. "I like your usual temperature. I like the warmth." She said looking up at him. She was still sleepy, but seemed somehow less tired. He did as she asked, getting back to his usual temperature. She was happy about it.

"You know?" She begun after a yawn. "I had a dream." She whispered. "I was running, it was dark and I felt tired… then I saw you in walking in front of me without a care in the world." She yawned covering her mouth with a hand and then rubbing off some tears from the corner of her eyes. "I was running as fast as I could, trying to catch you, but it was useless. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't catch you, and you kept on walking leisurely in front of me…" She trailed of and locked her eyes on his crimson curious orbs. "It was annoying." She said in a pout.

Hiei, who listened to her intently, had to hold back the laugh that was working its way up from his chest, making his shoulders tremble.

"Don't laugh." She slightly hit his chest with a fist, sulking as she noticed he was holding back hard. "It was infuriating. I felt like you were mocking me. I was running my legs off while you were taking a casual stroll." Her words surely didn't help him holding back nor did the face she was making, quite the opposite in fact, as he let out a chuckle that turned soon into a full laugh, though he tried not to be too loud. "I'll push you off the bed." She threatened him, but she wasn't really convincing with her lips twitch upwards in a smile.

"After all the effort you put into getting me here?" He asked after regaining some composure. His trademark smirk painting his lips.

"You sure can be infuriating at times." She muttered taking her eyes from his face.

Hiei's smirk grew when she didn't manage to find a comeback at him this time. He was getting better at cornering her with words and he felt proud, though he would rather shave himself bald than admitting that aloud. He grabbed her chin and lifted her head up, leaning in and kissing her. "Get some sleep, Hisae. You need it." He said using his hand to bush off some locks of hair from her face before replacing it on her waist.

She nodded and rested her head against his chest, clenching her fists on his shirt, as if she was afraid he would go away as soon as she closed her eyes. "Good night." She whispered closing her eyes.

"Good night." He replied resting his chin on her head.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – Summer Festival**

Hisae was fast asleep, but sleep wasn't so fast on him. He observed her sleep for a good while, thinking about how fragile she seemed, yet he knew she wasn't easy to break. He tried many times since he started training her. He wondered when he actually started to train her seriously, not just beat her to pulp, but he couldn't remember a precise moment. He gave up eventually and focused on something else… like her scent. No, that was a stupid idea. He needed some other distraction as he waited for sleep to take over. A distraction like her secret. He had yet to discover some serious information about that. The memory of her crying came back at him and, once again, he regretted asking about her nightmares. He felt like he was the one making her cry and he didn't like that feeling. He partially blamed Kurama for that. If he hadn't annoy him, he probably wouldn't have asked… probably.

However, he learned something more about her. Apparently, she wasn't on good terms with her family, to the point to consider her mother dead and hide from her little brother, it was a similar situation to his, as he didn't give a shit about his father and didn't want to tell his twin the truth about them being siblings. Then there was Shiki, the man who died to save her, though he had no idea someone wanted her dead. The thing that bugged him the most was what Kurama said. If she really knew assassination techniques, why was she hiding them and how did she learn them? He considered the possibility of her being an ex-assassin, but it was nearly impossible. First, her overall skills when she came to the temple weren't enough to be an assassin. Second, she was too young to be one. Third, once you were one, quitting was difficult, and she was way too carefree to be one.

In the end, she was a big mystery to him, a puzzle he wanted to complete but missed the pieces to do so.

\- \ -

Hisa slept in, a lot. It was midday already and she was still sleeping. No one woke her up as they all agreed she needed to sleep, her tired state of the last few days worried them all, so if she was sleeping for good for once they weren't going to disturb her.

Hiei was sleeping too, still in her room, though no one knew about it. It was normal not to know where he was or what he was doing, so no one looked for him.

He woke up once in the morning, but seeing Hisae still asleep and how she was still holding onto him, made him sleepy so he decided to sleep some more. After all, he didn't sleep much too in the last few days, since Hisae kept waking him up during the nights. Being a demon with heightened senses wasn't always a good thing.

Currently, Hiei was laying on his back with an arm under his head and the other around Hisae, who was resting her head on his chest clenching her fist on his shirt. Some sunrays were bathing them with a warm light as they managed to make their way in through the slightly opened curtains.

Slowly, Hisa opened her eyes, waking up. The first thing she noticed was that she was sleeping on Hiei and she recalled how that happened. She had that weird dream and then woke up and saw him. What she felt, as she couldn't catch him, the pain in her chest and the sensation of emptiness, still lingered in her. That's why she told him to stay. She wasn't sure however, what she really meant in that moment. Stay the night, or don't leave for the Makai.

She slowly rose her head up and observed him sleeping, that being the first time she saw him so unguarded. Hiei had a baby sleeping face; it was a big gap from how he usually looked, and she liked it.

A knock on the door caught her attention and she heard a voice, Botan's voice, call her. Hiei moved and his eyes cracked open slowly. Then Botan decided to open the door and enter the room, asking if she was awake and saying that lunch was ready. Hiei still had sleep in his eyes and Hisa promptly, as the reaper popped her head inside, grabbed the blanket and pulled it over the fire demon, covering him completely.

"Ah, you are awake." Botan said in an sing-song voice as she saw Hisa look back at her. "Sorry, to disturb your sleep, but we thought you should come and eat something. We are leaving in a few hours, and you might need time to pack."

"Yes." Hisa's voice came out stiff, unnatural, and Botan gave her a weird look. "I mean… thank you. I'll be downstairs in a few moments." She tried to correct the shot. Botan nodded, unsure for a moment, Hisa was laying on the bed in a weird position and she seemed nervous, but she brushed it off with a smile before leaving the room.

After the door was closed, Hisa removed the blanket from over Hiei to greet him with a warm smile, but he wasn't smiling at all, his face was painted with a scowl as he was frowning at her.

"Sorry, about that, but I thought it wouldn't be good if she saw you here." She chuckled leaning down and placing a small kiss on his lips. "Good morning." She smiled.

Hiei stared at her for a bit, before smirking and rolling her over so he was on top of her, kissing her. It was no innocent kiss like the one she gave him. He was far more demanding. He forced her lips open and slipped in his tongue, tasting her.

"Hey, we don't have time for this." She chuckled once he released her lips to kiss her neck and collarbone. "They are waiting for me, and I believe you could use some lunch, too." She said attempting to push him away, but he didn't budge and she didn't sound so convincing as she moaned when he nibbled a sensitive spot on her neck, one he knew well.

"They can wait five more minutes." He said in a smug expression before kissing her again, and she submitted to him as he did have a point. Besides, making out first thing in the morning… first thing once awake, wasn't so bad.

\- \ -

"How come we are the firsts to arrive?" Yusuke complained for probably the tenth time in fifteen minutes.

"I'm surprised myself." Kuwabara said from his spot on the bench as he looked at people pass in front of them going to the festival. The plan was to meet the girls, who went to Keiko's house to get ready and wear yukatas, in the small park near the festival's location. However, the girls were late, nothing surprising actually, and even Kurama was late as something came up, as he messaged them.

"To think I even wore a yukata for this thing and they are making me wait." He complained again pulling on the dark blue and white yukata he was wearing. Somehow, Keiko convinced them to wear one since the girls would wear one too.

"I don't think it's that bad." His friend commented. "I mean this is the essence of a Japanese man, isn't it?" He said in a grin while flexing his muscles in his purple yukata with a fuzzy pattern some shades lighter. They were both wearing them in a messy style with rolled up sleeves.

"Yukina-san!" Kuwabara chimed as he saw, pretty far away, the ice maiden. In an instant, he was besides her, complimenting her for how cute she looked in her white yukata decorated with cherry blossoms all over, and how perfect her hair looked tied in a high bun with a red hair clip. Yusuke just stood there waiting for them to arrive as he sighed at his best friend's antics.

When the girls were near enough, he was about to say something about them taking too long, being late and making him wait, etcetera, but he shut up as he saw Keiko wearing an orange yukata with a floral pattern and a red sash. Her hair was braided in a complex side braid that fell over her left shoulder and she was wearing a little make up.

"How do I look?" Keiko asked him twirling on herself as she noticed him stand there like an idiot, gawking at her.

Yusuke tensed and immediately blushed looking away and becoming all nervous. She was astonishing, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. "You… you look ok." Was the best that he could mutter in the end and Keiko frowned at him, though she didn't say anything as she noticed how red her boyfriend's face had become.

"Where's Kurama?" Botan asked. She was wearing a white yukata with pink and red small flowers all over and orange long leafs with a same pattern sash, her hair was in its usual high ponytail tied with a pink ribbon.

"He said something came up, but he's still coming." The ginger answered.

"Hiei is late, too." Hisa noticed, as she couldn't see him anywhere. He said he would come and he was one to live to his word.

"Who are you?" Yusuke asked with a dumfounded look on his face when he noticed her. Hisa was wearing a black yukata with red leafs decorating the edges of her sleeves and the lower half of the skirt, her sash was white and her hair was curled at the tips. She was wearing a little make up too, and the combination with the black yukata made her look more mature and feminine.

Hisa gave him a blank stare. "I'm Hisae, you dumbass." Yusuke blinked at her for a while before his face turned into a mix of incredulity and confusion, starting to say that he couldn't believe she could actually look so feminine.

"Wait. The shrimp is coming, too? I had no idea!"

Hisa gave him a big grin and a thumb up. "I convinced him to."

"How?" Kuwabara was rather shocked that the grumpy fire demon was participating to a human festivity.

"Ehm…" The brunette wasn't sure on what to answer. She actually begged him, and that wasn't something she wanted to say in Yusuke's presence. Only Enma knows what merciless mocking would that bring on her.

"A woman always has ways to persuade a man." Shizuru said lighting a cigarette. She was wearing a dark green yukata with an abstract pattern in a lighter shade of green and a same shade sash. Her hair was pulled to the side with nothing particular done to it, but she looked gorgeous, and her height was definitely a bonus that made her look like a model.

"What do you mean with that?" Kuwabara seemed now horrified.

"Just what I said."

"I wonder what happened to hold Kurama-san so much." Yukina spoke up.

"Yeah, it's not like him to be late." Botan mused.

"Ah! They're here." Hisa said as she noticed Kurama and Hiei approaching. She gasped when she saw Hiei wear blue navy yukata with light blue vertical slim stripes and a black sash. He was wearing it neatly, though you could still see a portion of his chest, with his hands folded inside the sleeves. Kurama, on the other hand, was messier. His half-gray half-black yukata with bamboo leafs pattern was more opened on the chest and he had his right arm resting in the fold of the yukata, which was tightened by a blue and white sash.

"I didn't expect you to wear a yukata, Hiei." Hisa said once the two caught up with them. Hiei groaned remembering how he has forced to wear the damn thing, it didn't have pockets where he could rest his hands and Kurama forbid him to bring his sword.

"I still had a card to play, and since today was the last day I thought I shouldn't waste it." Kurama said winking at Hisa.

"Nice job." She gave him a thumb up. "You look handsome in this, Hiei." She complimented making him look away, to which she chuckled.

"Oh, God. Hiei is coming to a festival and even wearing a yukata." Yusuke ran a hand through his hair. "The world is coming to an end."

"Don't be rude!" Keiko slapped his head.

"Shall we go?" Shizuru asked and they all made their way to the place where the festival was taking place.

\- \ -

Hiei knew this festivity would step on his nerves, but he didn't imagine it to be this bad. There were dozens of humans around and it was damn noisy. People would often bump into him and his eyes started to hurt from how many glares he had shot around already. Hisa had to buy him food to keep him from snapping. And that was not everything. He lost count of the times they stopped because someone tried to hit on Shizuru so she had to turn them down, he wondered why she dressed up if she didn't want to attract men's attention. Then there those who looked at Yukina with too much interest, but, much to his annoyance, she was well guarded by the oaf, and so was Keiko, as Yusuke stayed close to her to show she was already taken, not that anyone dared to make a move since the ex-detective was infamous in the neighborhood. Why the hell did they dress up, anyway?

However, his biggest problem now was Hisae. She was drawing too much attention, too many looks and he was tired of hearing men comment on her appearance or worse, to hear their dirty thoughts. Most of his glares were directed at those idiots, especially those who were bold enough to stop her and ask her to go around with them. She refused them all, but that didn't save them from his dirty look. Not only that, but she was tripping a lot on nothing as she was having great problems walking in the wood sandals she was wearing, so at some point he practically became her shadow as he was tired to see her disgraceful form wobble or of the guys who used that as an excuse to touch her. Apparently, that was Keiko's fault as she said that sneakers weren't appropriate for what Hisa was wearing, so she forced her to wear sandals.

After wandering around for an hour and playing various games that he considered stupid, they decided to split up, as Keiko wanted to have some sort of date with Yusuke and Kuwabara wanted to show Yukina around, just the two of them and Hiei thought that he better not try anything funny if he wanted to live the next day. That left him, Hisae, Kurama, Shizuru and Botan… for a while, before they decided to abandon him and Hisa with the excuse of buying something to eat. Kurama sent him a mental message that they wouldn't return and they would all meet in about an hour by the river for the firework display. Hiei insulted him, but he couldn't deny he didn't like remaining alone with Hisae.

"They are not coming back." Hisa said after a while. They were sitting on a bench, as she needed a break to rest her feet. Hiei raised a brow at her, he knew because Kurama told him, but how did she know. "Shizuru gave me this weird look before leaving, as if she was telling me to enjoy our time alone." She explained. "Though I can't say I'm unhappy about it." She smiled at him. "So… What do you wanna do?"

He closed his eyes. "Get as far as possible from this blasted place." He growled.

She chuckled at his annoyed expression. "Oh, come on. Since we are already here we could have some fun."

"I don't see anything _fun_ here."

"Don't be so negative." She stood up and grabbed his left arm, pulling him. "Let's go."

Hiei cracked one eye open. "Weren't your feet hurting?"

"I feel better now. Besides, I'm not going to waste this chance by crying over my feet."

After a minute of pondering, Hiei stood up and followed her around. First stop was cotton candy, then takoyaki, then candy apple and last crepe.

"How can you eat so much?" Hiei asked her as she bit on her crepe.

"You're one to talk." She pointed at his own crepe. "I have a fast metabolism, what's your excuse?" He actually ate as much as she did.

"I'm a demon." He answered emotionless.

"So famished appetite is in the package?" She raised a brow at him in a smug expression. Hiei shrugged in response. "Ah! Let's try that!" She chimed, pointing at a game and dragging him towards it. Hiei noticed there were a bunch of men hitting a small punching bag to test their force, there were a few girls cheering on the side, but none of them participated. "Do you know how to play this?" She asked him, as they got closer. He nodded. "Good. Hey, mister two rounds here!" She called as she placed some money on the stand's counter. The man looked at her confused, but then noticed Hiei behind her and probably assumed the rounds were for him, so he gave her two numbers, nineteen and twenty. She took them with a 'thank you' and gave one to Hiei getting in line.

"I never said I was going to play."

"You never said you wouldn't play either." She smirked at him taking a step in the line. He rolled his eyes at her and her tricky ways, but didn't protest.

"Hey, hey, missy this is the line for those who participate. If you want to cheer for your boyfriend you should stand there with the other girls." The man in front of her said. He was about two meters tall and had a broad and muscular complexion.

Hisa gave him a blank stare. "I'm participating though." The man blinked at her in shock before bursting into laughter, and he was not the only one, even some girls giggled at her and they started to whisper something looking at her as if she had three heads. Hisa was slowly losing her patience as her eyebrows started to twitch nervously and her aura increased. Hiei simply watched her as the line went on, all men there determined to show the little girl how it was done and how out of place she was there.

"Hey, short stuff there, are you really going to let your girl do something like that?" The same man questioned Hiei.

"She can do whatever she wants." He replied in a bored tone.

Soon it was the turn of the annoying man. He braced himself and flexed his muscles before punching the machine with all his might. Everyone was in awe as he scored one hundred and fifty four points out of two hundred. There was a loud cheer coming from the audience, probably the guy's girlfriend or something. He seemed satisfied as he turned to Hisa.

"Just let your boyfriend take your place, missy." He smirked at her.

"Just move out of the way, will you? It's my turn." She glared at him as she passed him to stop in front of the machine.

"Hiei, hold my purse." She said as she passed the small red purse to him. Then she rolled up the sleeve on her left arm and prepared to hit the damn thing.

The public went silent after they read the screen showing a one hundred and ninety points. She smirked and turned at the man. "I believe that makes me first place." She said. There was a little contest there for a big prize, a month supply of protein for the one to score highest out of twenty people. The man was speechless, eyes widened to the impossible and a stupid expression on his face.

"Why did you hold back? You even used your non dominant arm." Hiei asked her as he took place in front of the machine and passed her the purse.

"Of course I had to hold back. If I broke it I'd have to pay for it." She said. "You better not break it. I'm not paying for it." She warned him. He rolled his eyes at her before punching with his left arm, trying not to destroy the thing. Of course, him being Hiei he couldn't lose to her and did a perfect score, actually cracking a bit the machine, but nothing too noticeable. If possible, the crowd was even more silent, and the silence lasted for a while before the owner of the stand rang a bell a bit unsure, proclaiming Hiei the winner. The man who just made a fool of himself was nearly in tears as his girlfriend tried to comfort him and the rest of the crowd looked at the two in disbelief.

Hisa let out a chuckle as the man informed the demon he just won a month supply of proteins.

"I don't need them." He scowled.

The man blinked at him confused. "Then is there something else you want?"

"No." He said immediately. "Let's go already." He looked at Hisae.

"You really don't want anything? Maybe something for Yukina. You won after all."

Hiei stared at her for a bit then glanced at the various prizes exposed. "That." He pointed at a white orchid hairclip, which the man promptly gave him.

"Oh, you actually have good taste." Hisa said looking at the cute metal clip with golden details. "Yukina will love it."

"Idiot." He said and she frowned at him. "Here." He took her hand and placed the clip on her palm. "Take it as payment for the ice cream you're going to buy me now." He smirked at her, mostly because Hisa turned red as she mumbled a small 'thanks' while she used his gift to clip some bangs out of her face.

They went to buy the ice cream and, since Hisa tripped again on nothing, they decided it was safer to eat it while sitting down than walking around. They ate it in silence and then decided to head to the river to meet the others for the firework display.

Hiei growled when they arrived, as the place was crowded, which explained why the stands had so little people as they made their way to the river. There were a lot of kids around and couples; kids irritated him the most since they were so damn noisy, he could ignore couples making out behind trees or in front of everyone, but those little pests stepped on his nerves. Were there so many kids around before, too? He couldn't remember that many.

Things actually managed to go worse as Hisa bumped into someone she apparently knew. The worst part was that actually that someone was the idiot he met at the park when he approached Hisa for the first time and he caught her when she slipped on the grass and now was all over her, completely oblivious to his death stares.

"You look so wonderful Hisa-chan." The blond said as he touched her hair. "I think I fell in love with you all over again."

"Please fall out of it." She said emotionless as she slapped his hand away.

"Are you here for the firework display?" Her coldness didn't seem to bother him.

"No, I was planning to bathe in the river." She answered sarcastically.

Hideki laughed at her joke. "What about we watch them together?"

"No, thanks."

"What?" He whined. "Don't tell me you are going to watch them with this shrimp." He pointed at a scowling Hiei.

Hisa glanced at him and noticed he was about to snap. "Precisely. Now if you'll excuse me." She said taking off her sandals and deciding it was safer to walk without them. "Let's go Hiei." She said as she passed Hideki and he followed her silently, letting the blond there whine about something.

"I feel shorter now." She said as she glanced at Hiei walking besides her. The sandals actually gave her about a couple of inches more.

"That's because you are shorter." He stated. "It's the other way." He added seeing her turn right instead of left.

"I know, but actually Hideki gave me an idea." She said taking out her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting Shizuru we can't make it."

"Because…?"

"Because I did promise you some private time." She smirked at him. "Of course, I'm not telling her this."

"I thought you wanted to watch the fireworks." He said in a smirk. His private time with Hisae was probably the only thing he would enjoy about the festival, though the time he already spent with her wasn't so bad either… if you exclude all the looks she got and all the crap he heard.

"I will." She ginned at him as she pointed at a water tower not far from there. "From the best place possible."

Hiei followed her index finger and his smirk grew wider as he understood what she meant. He glanced around to make sure no one was looking at them before he took Hisae in his arms and leaped for the tower.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 – Return home**

A firework exploded in the dark sky followed by a loud boom, more following. Hisae was enjoying the show, though Hiei couldn't say the same, as the noises of the explosions were like punches to his eardrums. No matter how beautiful the show was, this was torture for his ears. Still he endured it, since Hisae seemed really happy. It was something he liked, seeing her happy and seeing her smile. Instead of watching the colored lights in the sky, he focused his attention on the girl, on the way the lights reflected on her. He didn't like when others were watching her, but he had to admit they had good reasons to gawk. He usually did find her attractive, but now she was gorgeously beautiful. He never saw a woman look so good in a yukata; the black of the fabric contrasted with her fair skin and gave her this mature air. He usually didn't like make up on women, since it made them seem fake, but whoever applied her make-up, did an awfully good job. It was light and just enough to accentuate her best features, and he liked she didn't wear any lipstick or the sorts, since it would get in his way.

He stared at the hairclip he gave her, which looked good in her hair. He didn't know exactly why he got her that accessory, but when he saw it he remembered she liked orchids and he had this weird urge to make her happy. Her blushing face was a good reaction; he learned she wasn't used to compliments and those type of gestures, so he enjoyed teasing her from time to time, as payback for all the teasing she did on him.

He was so caught up in his thoughts and staring he only realized the display ended when Hisae called his name.

"Hiei." She almost whispered looking down at the people leaving as she sat on the edge of the tower. He made a sound from his throat as to tell her he was listening. "When are you coming back?"

He observed her for a while before replying. "I don't know." She seemed sad with the answer. "Probably after the tournament." He added. Truth being said, he didn't originally plan on coming back after the tournament, also because he had no idea how things would turn out after that.

"The tournament is in three months, right?"

"Ten weeks actually."

"You'll be back after it?"

"I don't know." He repeated truthfully. "I have no idea what will happen after the tournament. It all depends on who wins it. The favorite seems to be Enki, but some say Yomi will win this time. I don't know how Yomi will rule if he were to win."

"What about Mukuro? Kurama said she is probably the strongest between the lords, and was the favorite for last tournament, though she lost against Enki."

"She doesn't seem interested in becoming the ruler anymore, though she will participate."

"How so?" She looked at him with a curious expression.

"Ask her."

There was a long silence before Hisae spoke up again. "Couldn't you stay here and train for the tournament? Like the others."

Normally he would mock her about her not wanting him to leave, but he didn't feel like it for some reason. "I have to return to border patrol. My leave finishes with the end of your training period. I have no reasons to stay. Besides, I live in the Makai." He noticed her clench her hands on the edge as she looked back down.

"So you might not come back at all, regardless the situation." She said and her voice almost broke at the end of the sentence.

 **She's hurt.**

"I'll come back."

\- \ -

"Will you go back to the temple?" Hisa asked as Hiei was seeing her back home.

"After I get my things from Kurama's place."

"What time do you leave tomorrow?"

"Sunrise."

"Hm… Ah, we're here." She said seeing how they were in front of her apartment building. It was old and small and most of the apartments were unoccupied. She stopped in thought for a moment. "Care for a cup of tea?" She offered and after some seconds of pondering, he shrugged, his way to say 'ok'.

He followed her inside as she climbed the stairs and unlocked the door. The place was small as he remembered it; an entry hall, a small kitchen on the right, a bathroom and a toilet room, on the left a large living room with a small round wooden coffee table with a laptop, a TV with some games in front of it, a bookshelf, and nothing more. There were sliding rice paper doors on a wall, where Hiei knew she kept her clothes and futon, which she laid down in the living room at night to sleep, since there was a large portion of that room that was unused. It was a small apartment, but she lived alone and didn't need more room than that.

"Just sit somewhere." She pointed at the pillows near the table. "I'll go boil the water… and get some snacks."

And with that she went to the kitchen and he sat down on a pillow. From his spot, he could see her prepare the tea and snacks. After ten minutes, she entered the room holding a tray with two teacups and a bowl with some rice crackers. "Sorry, I don't have much. Didn't have the time to go shopping for groceries."

"It's fine." He said, sipping form his green tea. They sat in silence, enjoying the tea and crackers and each other's company. This was another thing Hiei liked about her company; the fact that even though she was quite the talker, there were times when they would just sit in silence without need for conversation and without it being an awkward silence.

Hiei couldn't prolong his tea for more than needed and he found himself unsure on how to part. That was the last time they would see each other in a long time, was it really ok to just leave as he always did, without saying much or anything at all? Then there was the fact that he didn't really want to leave now, but there was no reason for him to stay more.

Hisae stood up and took the tray and everything to the kitchen, then came back, slid one paper door open and pulled out her futon, closed in a gigantic plastic bag.

"Help me here." She told him as she struggled to pull the rolled futon out of the bag.

"Why did you put it in this thing?" He questioned her as he stood up and walked to grab the futon, pulling it as she pulled the plastic bag.

"I didn't want it to get dusty while I was away." She answered as she took one end of the futon and rolled it down on the floor with his help. The futon was pretty big and occupied most of the free space of the room. Then she took out two pillows from another plastic bag and threw them on the futon.

Hiei observed her as she continued her chores, taking out from the closet her school uniform, hanging it on a wall and putting away the plastic bags. It was time for him to leave.

He tried to think about something to say, but then Hisae asked him to help her untie the ribbon of her sash. He didn't give it much thought as he proceeded to untie the knots. The white fabric fell slowly on the floor as her yukata slipped slightly off her shoulders revealing her smooth skin; the marks he had left that morning and night stood out on her white skin. His eyes brushed the shape of her shoulders and neck before he couldn't resist the urge to kiss it.

She flinched slightly at the contact, but let him trace her skin with his tongue as he kissed and nibbled it while his hands moved the fabric away to see more of her skin. Swiftly, he turned her around to take her lips, hungry to taste her. It was weird how he could never get enough of her. She put her hands on his shoulders pushing him as she pressed against his lips until they both fell on the futon. She pulled back and smirked at him before she started to kiss his neck slowly moving up to his ear lobe to nibble it and trace his ear shell with the tip of her tongue as her hands slid inside his yukata, feeling his muscles. Hiei grunted in response and tightened his grip on her hips; it was the first time she did something like that; she would usually let him do the touching while she was on the receiving side. She giggled in his ear before she moved back to his neck and then right shoulder where she stopped to bite and suck, leaving a hickey.

Though he liked the aggressive approach, he wanted to attack himself. Grabbing her arms, he promptly switched them so he was now on top, his yukata a total mess as the top was almost off. Hisae smiled at him as she completely removed the cloth off his upper body, letting it hang from his sash.

"This is the first time I see it." She said softly as she traced the uncovered black dragon on his right arm. She stopped on its head for a moment and it gave her a strange sensation, as if her fingertips went numb for a second. Hiei felt his hand burn under her fingertips, but he didn't pay much attention to it as he grasped her hand entangling their fingers and pinning her hand above her head, leaning in to kiss her. His left hand trailed down untying the thread that still kept her yukata together. She shivered when his hand touched her bare stomach, his burning fingertips moving up to cup her bra covered breast. She let out a moan when he fondled it lightly and a grunt rumbled low in his throat. He moved to kiss her collarbone, lips gradually trailing down to her chest as he felt his blood boil and rush through his veins, his temperature rise as his hand moved down to her thigh caressing her flesh.

"Hiei…" She moaned out.

Her voice sent him on overload as he moved her lower body so her thighs were now resting on his own. She touched his cheek with a hand, raising his head form her neck and capturing his lips. He accepted her lips gladly and forced them open to explore the inside of her mouth.

 **Take her.**

He heard the dragon roar in his mind and froze, breaking their kiss, and meeting Hisae's confused eyes.

 _She human._ He told himself.

 **She's yours.**

 _Hisae is human._ He repeated in his mind.

 **You want her.** The voice insisted.

 _No!_

He clenched his teeth and backed away from her, averting his eye from her almost naked body as she observed him in confusion. The yukata was opened reveling white lacy underwear, which he barely noticed before. Her eyes softened as she sat up and touched his cheek, making him look back at her. He briefly met her gaze before adjusting back her clothes. She watched him as he covered her back, stood up and adjusted himself turning his back to her.

"I have to go." He almost whispered taking a step towards the door.

"It's because I'm human, isn't it?" Her words and the calm in her tone made him freeze. "That's why you won't go further than this." She slowly stood up; his throat went dry. She knew? How? "Every time we get near it you suddenly stop and you always have the same look on your face." She answered the questions in his mind as if she could read his thoughts. "Like you are doing something extremely wrong." She finished taking a few steps towards him.

Hiei clenched his fists and teeth. She was right. Her humanity always stopped him and he did considered this wrong. He felt her arms hug him from behind while she rested her forehead against the back of his neck.

"It's fine." She whispered. "I understand. You don't have to leave because of this. You can still spend the night here. It seems that you can keep away my nightmares." She added and he slightly turned his head at her, seeing her offer him a warm smile. "Treat it as an apology for getting me all riled up before. Ok?"

He considered the offer thoughtfully while gazing into her silver eyes, thinking how undeserving he was of her kindness and how unjust was he being to her. He knew he was just being selfish, but she was the one allowing it, so it wasn't entirely his fault. Or so he wanted to think when he nodded.

"Good." She let go of him and he watched her as she removed her yukata to wear a baggy white shirt and a pair of matching shorts. "We'll wake up early tomorrow morning. I'll make you some breakfast and then we can go to Kurama's to take your stuff. I'll see you off." She turned at him as she fixed the futon. "Are you sleeping in that or do you want me to give you something else. I should have something that fits you."

"This is fine."

"Ok." She slipped under the blanket. "Come on. Ah, turn off the lights first." She said pointing at a switch on the opposite wall.

He did as she requested and walked to the futon to lay beside her. It was dark, but he could still see her, thing she probably couldn't do. This time she wasn't cuddling to him, but rested on her side a few inches from him.

"Good night." She whispered, closing her eyes.

He extended his right hand to touch her left, feeling how much warmer his hand was becoming, and he noticed her open her eyes back to look at him, unable focus on him because of the dark. "Good night." He whispered and a smile adorned her lips before her lids closed.

\- \ -

"So this is it." Hisa said glancing at the black hole looking portal the SDF opened for Hiei to return to the Makai. The firsts rays of sun had just cut across the sky and few stars were still visible along with a fading moon in the horizon. The grass in the clearing where he spirit forces were opening the portal, not far from the city, was coated in dew as the chilly temperature of the night was slowly rising. Hiei nodded at the girl, not looking at her and taking a few steps forward.

"Have a safe trip back." She said looking at his back. "See you in a few months and kick some asses at the tournament." Hiei didn't say anything while he walked towards the portal, not even looking back. "Wait a second." She almost yelled when he was a step away from the portal. "Is that how you leave? Not even a 'goodbye' or something?" He looked at the from over his shoulder, expressionless. "Quit it with the silent treatment. You're making me feel guilty." She crossed her arms in a scowl.

His eyes traveled to the ground for a second, before he turned and walked back to her. When he was in front of her, he started in her eyes for a moment, and then flicked her forehead with his middle finger. "Fool." He said turning on his heels and walking back.

Hisae started at him puzzled, touching her forehead in confusion. He stopped a step away from the portal and looked at her from over his shoulder. "Don't slack off on your training." He said before disappearing into the black hole.

She blinked for a while at the portal, which was now being closed by the SDF. A laugh erupted from her throat earning her some weird looks from the spirit forces. "That's so Hiei like." She chuckled. "I guess I'll train a bit before going to school."


	18. Chapter 18

I am not dead, just been working my ass off for a while now.

* * *

 **Chapter 18 – The beauty in the cage**

Rain. Constant and incessant droplets pouring from the gray dull sky. Cold and uncaring, they bathed the world in their heaviness.

It seemed to rain a lot lately, as if the sky was crying, pleading, mourning something, or someone. She wasn't sure how she could tell, or even if that was the case at all, but something in the sound of the thunder echoing above her whispered sadness to her.

Her brown locks, now longer than when her new job started, molded to her neck and shoulders, glistening in the gray pallor of the clouded sun. She waited crouched behind a tree as she peeked from behind a bush to the entrance of a cave. Immobile and undetected she waited for about four hours, the rain not stopping for a moment, not even feeling the temperature of her skin dropping.

The mission consisted of some simple data gathering and observation for now. Koenma only wanted to make sure of few details before he send his new detective out and he noticed how much more skilled Hisae was with stealth missions compared to his old resource. Therefore, three days passed like that, observing, listening, analyzing.

In Yamayori city, going east a few kilometers towards the forest, past the Red Fox temple, just near the base of the mountain, an entrance opened in the stone, leading supposedly to the heart of the mountain. It was an only mining site, closed for security reasons about a century ago. Old local stories told of a fox spirit inhabiting the mountain and protecting the villages around it, for that reason the inhabitants build a temple in the spirit's honor and worshiped it as a god. As time passed, the new generations seemed to forget of its generosity and be more fascinated by science's wonders and the shine of gold. They pierced the mountain, reached its heart and womb and robbed it of whatever they could grab. They lost the favor of the spirit and brought its wrath upon them. The site soon became a grave for many and, after deemed as cursed, some went to the old ways to appease the anger of the fox. The mine was closed and the place blessed, the forgotten temple restored and the story became first legend then a tourism attraction.

Why demon enslavers would choose such a place as their "secret base" was beyond Hisae. Of course, the story was just a story and the blessing seals were either fake or done by someone with no spiritual awareness at all. She wasn't even sure the info was correct since there was no demon activity there in the past couple of days and she couldn't sense any demonic presences further ahead in the mountain. Should she take a look inside?

"Hisa-chan, how are things going?" Her walkie-talkie buzzed, effectively breaking her away from her trance. She reached for the device strapped at her belt and held it close to her mouth as she responded to Botan.

"All is quiet. Too quiet. I'm getting bored here." There was a slight groan in her voice. She didn't mind the stakeout, but she was hoping for some action, which was not likely to happen soon, it seemed.

"Weird. Our data confirms some demon activity around the area."

"I would like to know how large this "area" is supposed to be. I can't sense a thing in a three kilometer radius."

"Well, that should be the whole area."

"How long ago was this activity detected?"

"About two weeks ago?" Her first instinct was to ask Botan why that came out as a question, but she resisted the urge in favor of the next important question.

"Is there a possibility they left this place? Maybe they sensed they were being watche–" The rest died on her lips as she suddenly heard movement through the vegetation. She looked around, scanned the area with both her eyes and senses, but while her senses told her nothing, her eyes settled on the lanky man coming into view from the tree line. Her brows drew together as she observed him. Tall and skinny with long dirty blond hair, narrow and pointy nose and eyes the color of straw. He looked completely human, he _felt_ human, but the way he checked his surroundings multiple times before he entered the cave was definitely suspicious.

"Hisa-chan?"

"I'll contact you back Botan." Hisa cut communications immediately after, strapping the receiver to her belt and following the suspicious man inside.

Tailing him was through the tunnels of the cave fairly easy and the probabilities of him being a simple curious human increased noticeably. She had half a thought to go back, but just as she was ready to turn around and leave the man to his business, he disappeared in a rock wall.

"People don't usually pass through walls." She whispered to herself as a small smirk spread her lips. Finally some action, and if she was lucky enough, it was the type of action she was waiting for. When Koenma ordered her to gather information on some demonic activity, it was because he feared some human traffic given the still delicate situation between demons and what they considered their food.

She scanned her surroundings carefully before she passed the wall as well. She expected to come across some demon tech facility and a groan escaped her when more tunnels followed. In the time she spent making sure she wasn't observed, the man she was following managed to lose her, another groan.

 **Go to the left.**

It didn't even sound like advice, just a simple command, but she wasn't going to argue with her "roommate" in that situation. So she followed the instructions, until the darkness of the cave was substituted by a febrile light coming from what she noticed was a dome engraved in the mountain.

 **Stop.**

Hisae stopped mid-step, a brow arched in question before she noticed the talisman glued to the rock right above her head.

Oh. She noticed various others forming arches above her and it took her a moment to click the pieces together.

 _So this is why I couldn't sense any energy in the mountain._ It wasn't directed at the freeloader inside her mind, but the beast confirmed her thoughts either way, along with some insight about the barrier shielding the demons from her senses.

 **Demons?**

She glanced inside the cave as she remained hidden behind a group of rocks, six people inside, five men and a girl in a steel cage covered in talismans, few lamps scattered on the floor. The imprisoned girl was still, her knees pulled to herself and her long orange hair covering her entire form. She was clearly scared and Hisa noticed the tremor of her shoulders, barely. Was there really a need to guard a simple human so tightly? Five men for one small skinny girl. Even their general precautions seemed a bit over the top. A strong barrier inside of a damned mountain no one dared to walk into to block any detection. The girl didn't even seemed to be some strong psychic. It was all too weird and inexplicable.

"How is the situation?" One of the men asked the newcomer. He had short black hair, was dressed in a suit and wore black sunglasses… in a cave. Probably the leader of this happy bunch.

"Calm. Our contact is ready. Tonight we can deliver the gift."

The supposed leader reached inside his jacket and pulled a pack of cigarettes out. He lit the stick and took a long drag, liberating the cloud of smoke from his mouth and smirking. "Finally. When the barrier was cut, I was worried we'd have to deal with some S-class wanting to decimate us, but it turned out they have some no-human-killing rule now. I wasn't expecting my business to benefit so much from it."

"The border is tightly guarded though." One of his underlings pointed out.

"Nothing juicy human flesh can't solve." At the leader's remark, everyone burst into a loud laugh.

"Even so, I wasn't expecting to get our hands on a princess so soon. Demons really have no sense of kinship." The lanky man turned towards the cage and Hisa noticed the girl inside flinch slightly and look up from her knees. Her eyes were a golden color and she looked like she had cried for days, shed all the tears she had. There was hate in her eyes and murderous intent. Lanky didn't seem to like that look much and he strode to the cage.

"What is that look, huh?" He yelled at her as he kicked the cage. It vibrated and oscillated, making the supposed princess lose her balance and bump against the bars. A scream tore from her throat, voice sore and pained, and Hisa detected the burn marks all over her naked skin. In that instant, she stopped thinking straight. All the incompressible pieces clicked together somewhere in the back of her mind and her first instinct took over, fingers itching to crush the windpipe of the tall blond man.

A moment later, her hand was tightly clasped around his throat, pinning him to the stony ground as he tussled for air. His eyes bulged and stung with tears as he looked back at the teal eyes of his aggressor. Shocked, the others pulled their guns out a moment later, but the bullets cut through air and hit the rocks as Hisa bounced off the man, her feet momently stalling on the ceiling, before she launched herself at the others. The fight finished in five seconds, the last of the underlings dropping unconscious to the ground as the leader trembled in his shoes, taking steps back as she took steps towards him.

"St-stay away!" He aimed his pistol at her, but she didn't even blink as she dodged a bullet drove to her head. He continued to shot until he run out of ammo and his heel hit the wall behind him. The blink of an eye and the detective smashed his head against the stone with one hand.

"You human trash." Her voice bounced off the cave in echoes and growls that didn't seem her own and the man dropped to the ground in a heap.

Silence installed and few moments passed, yet Hisa still felt the rage inside her storm and howl. Her fists were clenched at her sides and she dug her nails in her palms in attempt to calm down, to contain the fury. She could not lose control.

"Hisa-chan!" Botan's voice broke her concentration and she blinked rapidly, the ground finally coming into focus. "Oh sweet Enma, are you ok?" Hisa felt her boiling blood pacify as Botan turned her around to examine her condition. "What the hell happened?" Only now the detective realized her clothes were half burnt down and that she had a few blisters on her arms and hands. As for what exactly happened, she wasn't sure. The barrier resisting as she broke through it was her first hypothesis, but she had no recollection of the action it took on her.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I solved our mystery." Her eyes moved from Botan's worried eyes to those of a now very shocked and confused demon princess. She kneeled in front of the cage, reaching for the talisman on the lock and hesitating a bit before removing it. The talisman tore easily and a wave of relive washed over her when she found no resistance. She proceeded by smashing the lock with her fist and opened the cage.

"Ehm, who is this?" Botan asked as they both took a step behind to let the orange – marvelously beautiful – haired girl step out.

She did so with much care not to touch the iron bars and watchful of her apparently saviors. She kept stealing glances at Hisa, more precisely her eyes. She could have sworn they were teal and not gray a moment ago.

"I have no idea." Hisa answered Botan as she took a better look at the demon she just saved. She could finally feel her energy now that she was out of the confinement of her magical prison. She wasn't anything special power wise, but she was the most beautiful creature Hisa has ever laid eyes on. Now she could notice the faint orange in her skin and the golden small scales on her thighs, arms and neck. She noticed her ears were some sort of fin pointing downwards – and were decorated with gold and precious gems – her calves had small transparent fins going from the back of her knee to her ankle and her toes and fingers were webbed. The hue of her big round eyes seemed more vivid now, like liquid gold, her lips were full in a plum pink and her hair seemed intertwined with bright cinders. She was a vision and Hisa expected her voice to sound like the song of cherubs when she spoke.

"Who are _you_?"

As much as it did sound like the voice of an angel, her tone just scraped against Hisa's ears.


	19. Not a chapter

Hi everyone,

so this is not a real upload, more like an update of what the destiny of this story is going to be.

I'm not gonna beat around the bush, I'm aware I upload once every n-months, but here is why. I've been writing few more chapters ahead and I realized two things.

1\. During the years, my writing style has changed a lot, so reading the first chapters and the latest I wrote, I realized there's too much of a style change for my taste and incongruity between them.

2\. I made a mistake when calculating the chronology of the story and its whole development. Meaning I delayed telling some parts of the story for longer than I should have. The result is that if I were to continue this story and still give all the given explanation of facts, it is bound that people will feel confused. Moreover, the path the storytelling is on right now is going to create problems with Hisa's character development, and I would HATE that.

Therefore, the solution!

I decided I am going to re-write the whole thing. This time as it should have been.

Just so you know, lots of things are going to change, the chronology of facts, the prospective, some parts of the plot itself, so it's going to be sort of a new story. However, the main points will remain the same (for example, Hisa's backstory will not change much) even if maybe told differently.

I'm doing all this not only for the story's continuity, but also because I now feel like I have got a better grip of Hisa's character and I really want to portray her the right way.

This being said, I am already working on the new story and the first chapter will be out soon (few days, I mean it).

I hope you guys will be still up to read the new version and I want to take this chance to thank you all for reading this until now and putting up with me. I know I never respond to your reviews, but I did read them all and it really is uplifting for a writer to get feedback or just a notice someone enjoys their writing.

Thank you very much, and see you soon!

\- An


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